■ 



I 



ii! 



I 






Mill 

M m 
■ 

111 

III] uuttflsr 

Hill 



■ 

■ 

i 






I ■ 1 

IH 

H Si 

IH 

111 



at 




$H IB 







h c- 
















x° °x 



^ 'I >v , 







%<$ 






- 









rllllli 
J 




THE 



ahkif JStjfjiwI Cwjjtr; 



DESIGNED TO AID IS 



ELEVATING AND PERFECTING 



SABBATH SCHOOL SYSTEM 



BY JOHN TODD, D.D., 

AUTHOR OP " LECTURES TO CHILDREN," " STUDENT'S 
MANUAL," ETC. 






author's edition. \. \\o.L f / 



NORTHAMPTON, MASS: 
HOPKINS, BRIDGMAN & CO 

PHILADELPHIA: H. COWFERTHWALT & CO. 
CINCINNATI: MOORE, WILSTACH, KEYS & CO. 

1856. 



^ t 



$<> 



Entered according to Act of Congress, in the year 1856, by 

HOPKINS, BEIDGMAN & Co., 

In the Clerk's office of the District Court of Massachusetts. 



The Library 

of Congress 



WASHINGTn^ 



PREFACE 



TO THE AUTHOR'S EDITION. 



Few things strike the Christian traveller with more 
force than the fact, that let him go where he will, the Sab- 
bath School has gone before him, and meets him on his 
arrival. The Church of God, however her separate 
branches may differ on small unefsentials, has come to the 
firm conviction, that this is a mighty inftrumentality, 
which she cannot forego without heavy lofs, and which she 
cannot faithfully use without great succefs. And this suc- 
cefs, like everything else that is valuable, must be the child 
of patient toil and earnest effort. The whole plan of God 
in redeeming, enlightening, and training men up for heaven, 
involves individual responsibility and individual labor. 

Were it in my power to mark out a plan for a Sab- 
bath School, which would promise great success with little 
or no labor and anxious responsibility, my little book 
would be hailed through the world as a great benefactor. 
This I cannot do. I know of no way to rear a beautiful 
flower, or a fruit-bearing tree, but by careful planting, till— 
(3) 



4 PREFACE TO THE AUTHOR'S EDITION. 

ing, and training. I have not, in this unpretending vol- 
ume, undertaken to diminifh labor ; but to show how it 
may be most available. Not how the tree, full grown, 
may spring from the ground, at the touch of the teacher's 
wand ; but how he may plant the seed, and watch its growth, 
and rear it to be a tree, that shall eternally grow in the 
garden of the Lord. 

The author cannot feel too thankful that this little work 
has found so much favor on the other side of 
the waters, and has pafsed through so many editions. It 
is iiow reduced in size and price, and sent forth again into 
the world, with the hope that many will find in it hints 
that will aid them, or facts that will encourage them to 
rely on the great promise, " In due season we shall reap, if 
we faint not." 

Pittsfield, March, 1856. 



CONTENTS 



Chap. I. — First principles in Christian Education. 

Chap. II. — Superintendent — Character and Duties. 

Chap. III. — Qualifications of a Good Teacher. 

Chap. IV. — Other means of Doing Good besides Teaching. 

Chap. V. — Acquiring Information in order to Teach. 

Chap. VI. — Communicating Religious Instruction. 

Chap. VII. — Infant Sabbath Schools. 

Chap. VIII. — Singing in the Sabbath School. 

Chap. IX. — Connection of the Missionary Cause with the 

Sabbath School. 
Chap. X. — Duty of the Church and Pastor to the 

Sabbath School. 
Chap. XL — Encouragement to Faithfulness. 

(5) 



SABBATH SCHOOL TEACHER. 



CHAPTER I. 

FIRST PRINCIPLES IN CHRISTIAN EDUCATION. 

In every science, and in every department of know- 
ledge, there are certain points, or what may be called 
First Principles, which must be definitely understood, 
and which must be used as starting-points by all who 
would succeed. These are not theories which each 
one adopts for himself, but they are discoveries of the 
combined wisdom and experience of all who have 
examined the ground. Some of these first principles 
I wish to present to the Sabbath School teacher. I 
take pains to present these clearly and distinctly, be- 
cause I deem them of great importance. 

1. Lay it down as a first principle in Christian edu- 
cation, that the first object of the teacher is to form 
right habits in the scholar. 

Were you to give the most solemn and impressive 
instruction possible, to a company just as they were 
about going into the theatre, it would do no good. 
The impressions would all be gone in an hour, and 



THE SABBATH SCHOOL TEACHER. 



First principles— rigid habits. Experience of men. Amount of knowledge. 

other and deeper impressions would take their place. 
The same feelings awakened in an audience who 
were in the habit of daily prayer, would be likely to 
abide, and to bring forth the fruits of eternal life. 
Those children who are prodigies of learning and at- 
tainment in early life, often prove to be very ordinary 
men ; and the surprise is, that a tree so full of blos- 
soms should produce so little fruit ; while, in other 
cases, a child giving but faint promise of mind, in 
early life, frequently becomes great, and wise, and 
good, in mature years. This difference is not merely 
to be attributed to the slowness with which these 
minds were developed, but to the habits formed in 
early life. A child may acquire thought slowly, yet 
if he has formed the habit of acquiring each thought 
fully and distinctly, and of retaining it when acquired, 
he will eventually become a wise man. On the other 
hand, that boy so bright before you now, who com- 
mits to memory so readily, or who is so prompt in 
undersanding and so quick in answering your ques- 
tions, may be forming habits which will more than 
destroy all that he now obtains. All great men have 
attributed their success more to the mental and 
moral habits acquired in early life, than to any thing 
else. Even the temper, — the disposition, is formed by 
acquired habits, so that one who is naturally irrita- 
ble, may become a calm man. 

Let it be impressed on the mind of the teacher, 
that it is not so much the amount of knowledge which 



THE SABBATH SCHOOL TEACHER. 



Illustrated by the orphan. Want of right habits lamented. 

you communicate to each scholar, that is to make 
your teaching a Messing, as are the habits which you 
aid him in acquiring. 

He may or may not have gone over much ground, 
— but has he subdued it 1 Have you created in him 
a taste for patient thought and investigation, till he 
has thoroughly understood every idea, and mastered 
every subject presented ? Here was one great error 
in the old system of committing an amazing amount 
to memory, when the child was praised or blamed 
according to his success or want of success in loading 
the memory. 

You will frequently meet with a man who in early 
life was left an orphan. You see that he has risen 
up from obscurity, through difficulties and trials, till 
he has become successful in his pursuits. The facts, 
on investigation, would be found to be, that on being 
thrown upon his own resources in early life, he was 
compelled to form habits of sober thought, of prudence, 
foresight, economy, and diligence, which in more in- 
dulgent circumstances he could not have acquired. 
These habits made the man. And it is of unspeaka- 
ble importance that the child now under your care 
form right habits. Do you not yourself daily lament 
that you have some wrong habits hanging about you 
which } r ou acquired in childhood ? I have not unfre- 
quently met with men who would readily acknowledge 
that thousands of money would be no object, could 
they, with it, purchase such habits, mental and moral, 



10 THE SABBATH SCHOOL TEACHEK. 

Necessary to meet temptations. Example of Daniel. Perseverance. 

as might and ought to have been formed in the 
days of childhood. 

It ought never to be forgotten, that right habits are 
indispensably necessary to enable a child, or even a 
man, to meet and resist temptation. Piety and cou- 
rage were prominent in the character of Daniel ; but 
after all, I should tremble to place any man in his 
circumstances, with the lion's den before him, who 
had not Daniel's habit of daily prayer. " The man," 
says the venerated Porter, " who is so much the slave 
of circumstances in common affairs as to forego his 
regular food, and exercise, and rest, may live, but 
cannot enjoy life ; he cannot for any length of time 
possess vigorous health of body. He who has so little 
firmness of religious principle as to intermit his regu- 
lar, secret devotions, from indolence or hurry, or com- 
plaisance to friends, may be a Christian still, perhaps 
in a state of temporary but woful backsliding. But 
certainly he is not a decided, consistent Christian. He 
does not " keep his own heart with all diligence." He 
is not prepared for his upward flight to live in heaven, 
like Enoch, who " walked with God." Nor yet is he 
prepared to live in Babylon, like Daniel, who " kneel- 
ed upon his knees three times in a day, and prayed 
and gave thanks." The habits so beautifully described 
above, are as essential to the well-being of the child, 
as to the man and the Christian. 

The habit of perseverance should be cultivated 
with unremitting assiduity. It is what every child, 



THE SABBATH SCHOOL TEACHER. 11 

Curious illustration. 

and I may add, every teacher, needs. The habit, 
once acquired, is invaluable, though exceedingly 
difficult to be attained. Take every method to en- 
courage the child, and to show him the possibility of 
producing very great changes from slight beginnings. 
I cannot better illustrate this point than by telling the 
short story, from the London Quarterly Review, as 
related by Lochman. * A Visier, having offended his 
master, was compelled to perpetual captivity in a 
lofty tower. At night his wife came to weep below 
his window. " Cease your grief," said the sage, " go 
home for the present, and return hither when you 
have procured a live, black beetle, together with a 
little ghee, (or buffalo's butter), three clews, — one of 
the finest silk, another of stout pack-thread, and 
another of whip-cord ; finally a stout coil of rope." 
"When she again came to the foot of the tower, pro- 
vided according to her husband's commands, he di- 
rected her to touch the head of the insect with a lit- 
tle of the ghee, to tie one end of the silk thread 
around him, and to place the reptile on the wall of 
the tower. Seduced by the smell of the butter, 
which he conceived to be in store somewhere above 
him, the beetle continued to ascend till he reached 
the top, and thus put the Visier in possession of the 
roll of silk-thread. He then drew up the pack-thread 
by means of the silk; — the small cord by means of 
the pack-thread, and by means of the cord, a stout 



12 THE SABBATH SCHOOL TEACHER. 

Second principle— fixed principles. Taste of the age. 

rope capable of sustaining his own weight, — and thus 
he escaped from the tower.' 

2. That the teacher* should endeavor to fix the 
great principles of God 's truth in themind of the child. 

What I mean by this, is, that while you lead the 
child to commit to memory, do not fear that he can- 
not be made to comprehend and embrace the great 
principles of revealed religion. The fashions, the 
plans, I had almost said, the rage of the present day, 
is to bring every thing in mechanics, literature, 
morals, and religion, down to the test of present 
effect, and present apparent good. As if God had 
not wisely ordained that good shall always flow from 
the embracing great, fixed principles. We feel that 
it is a loss of time to pause long enough to give or 
receive deep, solid instruction, or to endure the task 
of thinking. How difficult to get men to sit down 
and read a sober, original, deep book ! Our ideas 
must all be thought out for us, and poured into the 
ear just as a song would be. In our preachers, we 
demand men who have popular talents, — who can 
electrify, lighten and thunder, sweep like a whirl- 
wind, carrying men into the kingdom by violence and 
before they know it, and move them on in the growth 
of grace by successions of powerful impulses. Our 
teachers must be men of popular address, with the 
power of communicating knowledge, which can be 
obtained in the least possible time, and at once be 
applied to use. 



THE SABBATH SCHOOL TEACHER. 13 

Dangers of the times. Should Catechisms be used ? Public opinion. 

As if men, in this agitated state of the world, could 
come up amid the rockings and the storms of the 
age, without deep, fixed principles for a sheet-anchor. 
The waves of excitement already run high, and will 
run still higher ; and he who acts as a teacher in the 
theological School, or as an author, as a teacher in 
the day or Sabbath School, who does not try to lay 
the foundations of character on fixed, definite prin- 
ciples, even the everlasting foundations of truth, falls 
far short of his duty. You might as well neglect to 
place anchors in the bow of your ship, as you send 
her from her moorings, because she does not now 
need them, as to neglect to fix deep and definite 
principles in the mind of the child, because he has 
not immediate use for them. 

This leads me to take this opportunity to answer 
the question so frequently asked in Sabbath Schools, 
is it best to teach Catechisms in these schools 1 

Till within a short time, Catechisms of all kinds 
have nearly been proscribed in most of our schools, 
and the impression seemed to be gaining ground, that 
they were to be laid aside with the rubbish of other 
times, with things and modes, good, perhaps in their 
day, but not adapted to the day in which we live. 
The objections seem to be, that the memory alone is 
cultivated by learning catechisms ; that the child can- 
not understand them, and that they are sectarian in 
their tendency. 

After looking at this subject long, and in various 
2 



14 THE SABBATH SCHOOL TEACHER. 



Answer to objections. How to teach Catechisms. 

lights, I am not altogether certain that these objec- 
tions are not directed chiefly, if not solely, against 
the Assembly's Shorter Catechism ; and that a sort 
of tacit compromise has not been made, that all cate- 
chisms should be laid aside for the sake of getting 
rid of that. 

In regard to the two first objections, I believe they 
may be reduced to one and the same : viz., that the 
memory is burdened, because the child does not com- 
prehend what he tries to learn. The answer to these 
objections, is two-fold. First, that it is one very im- 
portant part of education to exercise and cultivate 
the memory; and few things will do it better or 
faster than the Catechism. Secondly, that it is not 
true that the child cannot be made to understand the 
Catechism. Till within a few years it was thought 
that a mere child could not be made to understand 
Arithmetic, Grammar, or Geometry. He was told 
to commit the rules to memory, to be applied to use 
at some future time. But all this is justly exploded. 
The child of six years old can now be taught Arith- 
metic on the plan of Colburn. It is only the substi- 
tution of things, for the signs of things. I do not 
believe there is any greater difficulty in teaching a 
Catechism, than in teaching many parts of the Bible. 
The book of Romans, for example, is a very difficult 
part of the Bible; and yet I have never seen a 
school more interested in any study, than in this 
book. The great obstacle with which I have met, 



THE SABBATH SCHOOL TEACHER 15 



Mrs. Sherwood. Assembly's Catechism. Third principle— power of example. 

has been, that the teachers seemed to make up their 
minds that the Catechism must be difficult to 
teach, and thus made it difficult. But let any one 
begin and proceed just on the plan of Colburn's 
Arithmetic, and I will warrant success and pleasure. 
Let any one read Mrs. Sherwood's beautiful stories 
on the Church Catechism, and he will be satisfied 
that even catechisms can be made bewitchingly 
interesting. The man who shall make the Shorter 
Catechism equally interesting, will do a great work 
for his fellow-men.* 

Then as as to their being sectarian, — if this be so, 
let each sect select its own catechism. While T 
frankly say that I prefer the Assembly's Catechism 
before any other, and, indeed, before any other unin- 
spired compendium of revealed religion, I should 
indeed sink low in my own estimation, did I not feel 
willing that every one should enjoy the same liberty 
of choosing ; and I trust I should love no one the less 
for the exercise of such a right. Perhaps those schools 
which have the Catechism taught in short lessons 
once a month, are wise in their course ; for it ought 
not to be taught every Sabbath. 

3. A process of education, from example, is con- 
tinvally going on in the mind of every child. 

* By the experiment of delivering a few lectures on the 
Shorter Catechism, 1 am satisfied that it may be brought down 
to the comprehension of every person, though I had many 
doubts when I commenced. 



16 THE SABBATH SCHOOL TEACHER. 

Example of a real Christian. 

The parent who supposes the few lessons of instruc- 
tion which he bestows upon his child, constitute any 
considerable part of the education of that child, is 
greatly mistaken. The child is at play in the corner 
of the room, with his blocks or his toys, and the pa- 
rents are talking together without heeding him. But 
ever now and then the little prattler stops talking to 
himself to catch the tones and thoughts of his parents, 
and he is there receiving impressions which form his 
character, and which will abide with him through 
life. It is on this principle that example is so power- 
ful a teacher ; and that a real Christian can do so 
much for his Master. " God has not permitted the 
world to despise a true Christian ; they may pass by 
him with a haughty and supercilious coldness, they 
may deride him with a taunting and sarcastic irony ; 
but the spirit of the proudest man that ever lived will 
bend before the grandeur of a Christian's humility. 
You are at once awed, and you recoil upon your 
own conscience, when you meet with one whose feel- 
ings have been purified by the Gospel. The light of 
a Christian's soul, when it shines into the dark den 
of a worldly heart, startles and alarms the gloomy 
passions that are brooding within. Is this contempt 1 
No: but all the virulence which is excited by the 
Christian graces can be resolved into envy — the feel- 
ings of devils when they think on the pure happiness 
of angels ; and to complete their confusion, what is 



THE SABBATH SCHOOL TEACHER. 17 

Watching over example. Teachers watched. 

that moment the feeling in the Christian's heart? 
Pity, most unfeigned pity." 

Those influences hardly noticed or thought of, the 
every-day acts of parents, and teachers, a word, or a 
look even, may permanently and mightily influence 
the character of the child. What then 1 Must we 
so reverence that little one, as to be always subject to 
painful restraint and anxiety in his presence ? The 
little mimic would be sure, in that case, to " catch 
the truth" of concealment, and would never grow up 
with an open countenance, or an ingenuous mind. 
There is no way but to be, habitually and perma- 
nently, such as the child ought to see you appear. 
You must be in the law of justice, truth, love, holi- 
ness ; not under it. It must be the perfect law of 
liberty to you ; so as to manifest its presence, not as 
an outward, restraining power, but as an inward, 
well-spring, whose waters flow out freshly and plea- 
santly in all the channels of social life and Christian 
duty.' A teacher who has not carefully noticed the 
fact, will be surprised to find how narrowly he is 
watched, how every part of his character, and almost 
every habit of his, becomes a part of his pupil's. You 
will frequently see a class eyeing their teacher as he 
delivers an exhortation, or tries to impress a truth of 
great importance upon them, just as a child will eye 
a father when he receives a command, — not because 
he does not fully understand the icords of the com- 
mand, but because he wants to know just how much 
2# 



18 THE SABBATH SCHOOL TEACHER. 



Influence of little things. Adam Clark. Story of the young lady. 

his father means. A congregation will look at their 
minister in the same way, and are impressed, not 
more certainly by what is said, than by the looks and 
appearance of the preacher. These little folks can- 
not reason about great principles of action, — cannot 
make allowances for the temperament of their teach- 
er, but they judge of character and of religion by 
looking at small things, and receiving repeated im- 
pressions. A word too much, or a word too little, 
may be forgotten ; but impressions made upon a child 
by example are at once moulded into his character. 
What Adam Clark so pertinently says of a minister, 
is wonderfully applicable to a Sabbath School teach- 
er. ' It is impossible that he should ever be a private 
man ; even in his most trivial intercourse with others, 
it is never forgotten what his office is : the habit of 
every one's mind, is to expect information or example 
from his company and conduct ; he is constantly liv- 
ing under the observation of mankind, and he who is 
always observed, should never venture on dubious 
conduct, or suppose for a moment that what he does 
in the view of another can ever for a moment be a 
matter of indifference, or be regarded as a trifle. I 
will tell you a curious circumstance that happened to 
me some years ago. In a day or two from the time 
that I refer to, I was about to set off from London to 
Ireland: a friend desired me to take charge of a 
young lady to Dublin, to which I readily agreed, and 
she was sent to me at the coach. I soon found from 



THE SABBATH SCHOOL TEACHER. 19 

Moral honesty to be observed. 

her conversation that she was a Roman Catholic, and 
also quickly perceived that she had heen led to en- 
tertain a very high opinion of me. After we had 
travelled some distance, talking occasionally on vari- 
ous subjects, the day-light began to sink fastly away, 
when she took out of her reticule a small Catholic 
book of prayers, and commenced seriously her even- 
ing devotions. While she was reading, such thoughts 
as these occurred to me, — ' I believe this lady to be 
sincere in her religious creed, which I think to be a 
very dangerous one ; she appears to be of an ingenuous 
temper, and to feel much personal respect for me ; is 
there not here, then, a good opportunity, as well as 
subject, to exercise my influence, and to deliver her, 
if possible, from her erroneous creed V But, contin- 
ued I in my thoughts, ' was she not entrusted to my 
care ? would her friends have so entrusted her, had 
they ever suspected that an attempt at proselytism 
would be made ? Would not the attempt be a breach 
of trust, and should I, even were ultimate good to 
accrue to her, be a morally honest man V I instantly 
felt that my own honesty must be preserved, though 
the opportunity of apparent good might be apparently 

lost. In a short time Miss closed her book with 

this observation, * We Catholics, Dr. Clarke, think it 
much better to believe too much than too little.' I 
replied, ' But, Madam, in our belief, we should recol- 
lect that we never should yield our assent to what is 
contradictory in itself, or to what contradicts other 



20 THE SABBATH SCHOOL TEACHER. 

Interesting result of the story. 

ascertained facts.'' This was the only observation 
that I made that looked at all towards Catholicism. In 
process of time we arrived at our journey's end, and 
I deposited her safely in the hands of her friends.' 

'From that time till about two years ago, I never 
heard of her, till we met in the following way. I 
had been preaching at Chelsea Chapel, and on en- 
tering the vestry after service, a lady followed 
me, shook hands, spake with much emotion, and 
said : ' Do you not recollect me, Dr. Clarke ? I am 

Miss , whom you kindly took care of to Ireland : 

I was then a Catholic ; now I am a Protestant, and 
have suffered much in consequence of the change.' 
I inquired how the alteration in her views was 
effected, and she gave me in detail the account which 
I will shortly sum up to you. When she heard to 
whom she was about to be entrusted, she resolved to 
observe and watch closely this eminent Protestant 
minister ; she was pleased with the conversation and 
friendliness shown her ; and was so struck with the ob- 
servation I had made in the coach, that she said it 
afterwards absolutely haunted her, caused her to 
examine and think for herself, aud at last led her to 
freedom from her thraldom : ' but,' said she, ' I should 
never have been induced to examine, had it not been 
for the previous examination. I had made of you. 
From the first moment you entered the coach, I 
watched you narrowly ; I thought, now I have a fair 
opportunity of knowing something of these Protest- 



THE SABBATH SCHOOL TEACHER. 21 

Convert of behavior. Inference from the story. Power of a good name. 

ants ; and I will judge if what I have heard of them 
be true. Every word, every motion, every look of 
yours, Sir, was watched with the eye of a lynx ; 1 
felt you could not be acting a part, for you could not 
suspect that you were so observed ; the result of all 
was, your conduct conciliated esteem, and removed 
prejudice; your one observation on belief, led me 
to those examinations which the Spirit of God has 
blessed to my conversion; and I now stand before 
you, the convert of your three days' behavior be- 
tween London and Dublin.' You see from this ac- 
count, how all ministers should ever feel themselves 
to be public men ; how cautious should be their con- 
duct, and how guarded their conversation. Had I 
attempted to proselyte this lady, all her prejudices 
would have been up in arms ; had my behavior been 
unbecomingly light, or causelessly austere, she would 
have been either disgusted or repelled, and her pre- 
conceived notions of Protestants would have been 
confirmed ; she saw and heard what satisfied her : 
thus, even in social intercourse, the public teacher 
should always be the Christian instructor.' 

If the above account cannot be commended for 
the modesty of the narrator, it certainly contains 
sound sense, and ought to be well weighed by those 
who, in any sense, are teachers of God's word. 
The reader should observe too, what is always true, 
that a Christian is more likely to do good, if he has 
earned a good reputation by his life and conduct. It 



22 THE SABBATH SCHOOL TEACHER. 

Patrick Henry. Fourth principle — religion early taught. A wrong notion. 

is thus that " a good name is better than precious 
ointment," and the example of such an one grows 
more and more influential till he reaches the grave, 
and has finished his work on earth. A young man 
might make the remark, and probably hundreds of 
young men might make the remark, and it would be 
forgotten, — ' that every man makes his own charac- 
ter ;' and it makes no deep impression. But see the 
father of the late Dr. Rice leading his son, just as he 
entered manhood, and introducing him to the vene- 
rable Patrick Henry, that he might receive some im- 
pression that would do him good. The father intro- 
duces his son, and the venerated Henry turns his 
kind and powerful eye upon the stripling, and in 
tones full of benevolence says, " My son, remember 
that every man is the maker of his own character !" 
This falls from one who made his own character, — 
from one whose life entitled him to speak with mean- 
ing. The sentence sank deep into the soul of young 
Rice, and was probably the means of leading him to 
make his own beautiful and symmetrical character. 

4. Religion should be taught from the very ear- 
liest dawn of intelligence. 

Among the many crude notions which prevail 
among men, we often hear it gravely advanced, that 
a child ought to grow up unbiassed, without having 
his head filled with creeds and religious impressions ; 
so that when he becomes mature in after life, he may 
make his own choice in religion. I verily believe I 



THE SABBATH SCHOOL TEACHER. 23 



Why children early taught religion. First reason. 

have heard people advance these sentiments who 
would be exceedingly mortified to have views im- 
puted to them on any other subject, equally super- 
ficial and puerile, — views as far from common sense, 
as they are from the Bible. The mind of every 
child must and will be growing and strengthening 
every day ; and daily, too, will it receive new impres- 
sions and new thoughts. These must educate that 
mind ; and a child who sees his parents and teachers 
careless about religion, and ignorant of God and of 
his government, is not left to choose for himself, — he 
is educated to forget his Maker, and to trample on 
his laics and commands. But without stopping to 
discuss this point, and without more than alluding to 
the severe reproof of Coleridge, who showed one of 
these wise ones his garden full of weeds, saying * he 
was leaving it without bias, and letting it choose for 
itself,' I would mention a few familiar reasons why 
religion should be the first thing taught to a child. 

(a.) It is the most important thing with which the 
child becomes acquainted. 

The warrior feels that war is the highest end of 
man, and the noblest employment of a being bearing 
the image and likeness of God, is to destroy his 
fellow-man. This highest end of man he wishes his 
son to pursue, and for this he educates him. Now 
how does he begin, and when does he begin ? He 
would rear that child up to be a man of blood, a 
terror to men, and a destroyer of all that is fair and 



24 THE SABBATH SCHOOL TEACHER. 



Education of worldly people. We educate for eternity. Second reason. 



beautiful and good. We know how he does it. He 
makes the very play-things of the nursery to consist 
of drums, and plumes, and mimic guns, and the 
splendid glitter of the warrior. He teaches him to 
lay his hand on the cannon, to shout at its roar, and 
to have his soul speak through his sparkling eyes at 
the sight of the sword and the weapons of death. 
The son of Buonaparte was walking his post as a 
centinel, in the ranks, as a common soldier, at the age 
of seven years. And Hannibal made his son swear 
on the altars of his gods, at the age of twelve, that 
he would be the everlasting enemy of Rome. These 
men understand what they do ; and they begin the 
work in early life. 

We look upon the character of God, the govern- 
ment under which he has placed us, the services in 
which he proposes to employ our souls for eternal 
ages, as the most important subject ever presented to 
the mind. We would educate the soul for immor- 
tality, we would train it up to be a burning and a 
shining light here while passing over the globe, and 
when removed hence, to shine as the sun in the 
firmament forever and ever. We cannot begin too 
early, — we cannot be too anxious to make the proper 
impressions upon the soul, before it is otherwise occu- 
pied, 

(b.) The command of our Savior is, "preach the 
Gospel to every creature" and especially, "feed my 
lambs" 



THE SABBATH SCHOOL TEACHER. 25 



Third reason. Recollections of childhood. 

There can be no doubt that children, even from a 
very early age, are included in this command. They 
are immortal, they are sinners, they need the wash- 
ing of regeneration, and the renewing of the Holy 
Ghost. By preaching the Gospel to such, or by feed- 
ing such, must evidently be meant, communicating 
religious instruction according to their capacity and 
age, giving " line upon line, and precept upon pre- 
cept." Of such is the kingdom of heaven ; and we 
are to bless God, that out of the mouths of babes and 
sucklings, he has perfected his own praise. Never, 
perhaps, did the blessed Redeemer appear more in- 
teresting than when he paused at the threshold of the 
temple, while the daughter of Zion shouted for joy, 
fulfilling the words of holy prophets, and doing it by 
the mouth of the children who shouted Hosannah in 
the Temple. 

(c.) The mind of the child is tender and susceptible 
to impressions. 

Who has not seen the old man, who could hardly 
remember what he saw or felt during the last year, 
sit down and distinctly and vividly recal the scenes 
of childhood ? Who does not remember things which 
took place when he was but little more than an in- 
fant — the words of a parent — the example of a sis- 
ter — the gate on which he swung — the brook in 
which he played — the pond on which he used to slide 
— the tree under whose shade he used to sit — the 
grove through which he used to walk — the trees that 
3 



26 THE SABBATH SCHOOL TEACHER. 



Power of habit upon the wicked. Fourth reason. 

stood by his father's door — the very countenance of 
the stones and rocks on which he used to gaze in 
childhood ? And how is this so 1 Because he then 
received deep impressions from every thing around 
him, — impressions which will probably last as long as 
the memory lives, even forever. Theft, every im- 
pression, every look, the words and tones of our pa- 
rents and teachers, sank deep into the soul, and all 
left their image there. The soul of the child is emp- 
ty, and you may fill it with the treasures of life. It 
is confiding, and you may imprint your own soul upon 
it ; it is yielding, and you may train it up for the skies. 
You speak to that youth who had little or nothing of 
these religious impressions made upon his soul in 
childhood, and how little do you move, or restrain, or 
affect him by religious motives ! Speak to that man 
who has grown up without religion, and whose habits 
even from childhood have all been formed for this 
world, and why do you not move him by conversa- 
tion, or by the solemn sermon 1 Because his soul has 
been educated to habits which almost forbid religious 
impressions; and I sometimes feel that instead of 
wondering why no more of such men, in manhood's 
strength, are not converted to God, it is rather a mat- 
ter of astonishment, that any are permitted to receive 
impressions which lead them to God and to holiness. 

(d.) The effects upon the community are such as to 
demand that religion be the first thing taught. 

Nothing ever expanded, enlarged, quickened, and 



THE SABBATH SCHOOL TEACHER. 27 

Encouragement to the teacher. 

as it were, created mind, like the truths of the Bible. 
They make wise the simple. A nation of people 
who were taught religion the first thing, and who 
had grown up under the impressions of religion, 
would be more enlightened, intelligent, free, than any 
which the world has ever yet seen. They could do 
almost any thing towards enlarging the bounds of in- 
vestigation and knowledge, they could give an exam- 
ple which all other nations would feel and acknow- 
ledge, and they would show what men could do, when 
virtuous enough to govern themselves. The earlier, 
the deeper religious truth is impressed on the mind 
of the child, the more intelligence will he possess, the 
more influence will he have in life, and the greater 
blessing will he be to the world. Let the Sabbath 
School instructer think how much vice he will pre- 
vent, from how many temptations he will shield, how 
much strength he will create for the hour of tempta- 
tion, how much the world needs men sanctified even 
from the cradle, and he will feel that it is impossible 
to begin too early. I make these remarks, because 
somebody must take the youngest classes, and cheer- 
fully and faithfully instruct them in religion; and the 
teacher will find it a laborious piece of work, unless 
he first be convinced, that this is the very time to 
begin. The wax is more soft, and you may mould 
it as you will. The mind is curious and thirsty ; you 
may give it the waters from the wells of salvation. 
Never repine that your class are young, perhaps the 



28 THE SABBATH SCHOOL TEACHER. 

Fifth reason. Examples— ancient and modern. 

youngest in the school. They may become trees in 
the garden of the Lord, they may be vessels of mercy 
to this world, they may give you more joy beyond the 
grave, than the brightest crown ever worn here, 
could give its possessor. 

(e.) Once more, religion ought to he the first thing 
aught, because it will add to the everlasting happi- 
ness of the child. 

The promise is that if you train up a child in 
the way he should go, when old, he will not depart 
from it. The character will be formed in the morn- 
ing of life, and it will be fitted to be a glorious 
spirit in eternity. You have seen men converted 
to God in manhood, — and in old age; seen them 
live and die in peace; but did you ever see a 
character equal to that of Joseph, — of Samuel, — of 
David, who did not in early life receive deep re- 
ligious impressions ? We have seen men live and die, 
such as Payson and Evarts, and many others whose 
sun went down in glory, and whose bright spirits 
could almost be traced as they went up to the re- 
wards of heaven ; but such men were instructed in 
childhood. Their earliest, deepest impressions were 
made when they were children. And will not their 
eternal condition be altered in consequence ? — their 
songs be louder and sweeter ? — their robes purer, and 
their crowns brighter ? Those who are early and 
faithfully instructed, will shine brighter in heaven, 
because they will have fewer sins to be forgiven ; 



THE SABBATH SCHOOL TEACHER. 29 

Fourth principle — aversion to religion natural. First reason. 

they will have made the service of God the business 
of life ; they will have turned many to God, who 
shall go with them to the hill of Zion above. Per- 
haps it is not speaking beyond bounds, to say, that 
a child of ordinary capacity and destitute of proper- 
ty, but converted to God in childhood, is frequently 
worth more to the church than ten wealthy men 
converted at the noon of life. 

4. A child is more averse to receiving religious 
instruction than any other. 

Those for whose benefit I am writing, do not wish 
me to stop to prove this point. Their ingenuity has 
been too often tasked, their patience too often and 
too severely taxed when trying to fix and keep the 
attention of their class, to doubt the truth here laid 
down. Instead of spending time on its proof, there- 
fore, I prefer to mention some of the causes of this 
aversion to religion, in order to aid you in over- 
coming it. 

(a.) Every one naturally dislikes to contemplate the 
character of God. 

All who teach religion feel the difficulty, though 
all do not confess it. Some try to escape it in one 
way, and some in another, — but all meet it. Some 
deny it in words, but acknowledge it in practice; 
for they are forced to draw the character of God 
widely different from that drawn in the Bible. 
They hold him up dressed in robes of mercy and 
love, indifferent to the violations of law, winking at 
3* 



30 THE SABBATH SCHOOL TEACHER. 

This aversion always felt. Expansion of the principle. 

sin , — a representation of God about as correct, as 
a beautiful picture of the ocean sleeping in the 
silvery light of the moon, is a true and faithful repre- 
sentation of that awful bed of waters. Others do 
not, and dare not bring the true character of God 
before the mind of the child, but, instead of it, they 
give beautiful illustrations of this and that duty. 
What need of this ? Why is the character of God 
an object of aversion to every unrenewed heart, 
whether in a child or in the full-grown man ? I an- 
swer, that when the mind fully sees the greatness of 
God, it receives the full impression of his awful and 
holy nature, — of his unchangeableness, — of his power 
and right to govern and command us, — of our con- 
sciousness that we have sinned, and are daily sinning 
against him, — and the soul is at once open to fear and 
forebodings. Tell the child that God is almighty and 
can protect him, and he knows too, that this almighti- 
ness may be used to crush him, — and he is afraid. 
Tell him that God sees him a,nd knows all things, 
and therefore will forever shield him from injustice, 
and he knows that this very knowledge has counted 
up his sins, and will bring every thing into judgment. 
Tell him to rejoice, for * the Lord God omnipotent 
reigneth ;' and he cannot do it, — for he knows that 
his government extends over him, and will to eternity 
bind him to obedience. 

Now what shall be done 1 Shall we avoid leading 
the child to contemplate the character of God, be- 



THE SABBATH SCHOOL TEACHER. bl 



Duty of the teacher. Second reason. 



cause it is unpleasant to him 1 By no means. Take 
every possible method to make the child understand 
the whole and the true character of God ; — his eterni- 
ty, is time and years continued forever : his skill is seen 
in the painting of the rain-bow, and in every limb 
of the child ; his power is seen in all creation, the 
flood, the mountain, the ocean, the wind : his holiness 
is seen in the Red Sea becoming the grave of Egypt, 
the wilderness becoming the grave of all one genera- 
tion of Israel, and in judgments upon individuals and 
nations; his mercy in sending his Son, giving the 
Bible, and the assistance of the Holy Spirit, in pre- 
serving the life of the child, surrounding him with 
friends, and the means of grace ; — and then try to show 
the child the guilt of carrying a heart which does 
not rejoice under this government. If he trembles 
and is unhappy at the idea of having the eye of God 
continually upon him, it is because he is constantly 
doing wrong. This will open the door to teach him 
the doctrine of repentance, and to lead him to Christ. 

(b.) The same consciousness of guilt in the pupil 
which makes religion irksome, is more or less felt by 
the teacher, and makes him cold in presenting truth. 

Hence religious instruction is not given by the teach- 
er or by the parent with that cheerfulness and interest 
which they ought to feel, and which perhaps they 
would feel on any other subject. If the teacher feels 
chilled or lukewarm, he will certainly add to the dis- 
taste which the child naturally feels in regard to reli- 



32 THE SABBATH SCHOOL TEACHER. 



Third reason. What to be done. Fourth reason. 

gion. He will present all he has to communicate in 
a very dry light. 

(c.) Ignorance of the best methods of reaching the 
heart and conscience will add to the aversion. 

There is a tact, a kind of skill, which some have, 
and which brings a circle of children around them at 
once, and continues to hold them. This tact is in 
some apparently natural ; but it may be acquired to 
almost any degree. The great thing wanted to create 
it, is a strong love for the souls of men. Let the 
heart be filled with this love, and you will have be- 
nevolence seen in the countenance, — have it felt in 
the tones of your voice, and so spread over your char- 
acter, and all that you do, that the children will love 
you at once. This will lead you to think much on the 
subject of the best methods of doing good. You will 
study to simplify and make plain the truths of the 
Bible, — to illustrate and fasten them upon the memo- 
ry. No man can hope to gain the confidence and 
affections of children who does not try to let himself 
down to their condition, try to conceive how he should 
look upon this or that thing, were he a child. I shall 
probably resume this topic again. I introduce it here, 
because I am confident it is one cause of the aversion 
which children have to religious instruction. If you 
give it with hesitancy, with reluctance, and as a task, 
you may be certain that it is received in the same 
way. 

(d.) There is one thing beyond all this, which ren- 



THE SABBATH SCHOOL TEACHER. 33 



Mistakes of wicked men. 



ders religion irksome to the unrenewed heart, — its 
own unhappiness. 

Every one knows by experience, that an unsancti- 
fied heart is unhappy. The soul may be sunk near 
the state of the beast, it may live in an ideal world, 
— it may revel in sin, — it may fly from flower to 
flower, and from fountain to fountain, for peace and 
happiness, but cannot find it. It is unsatisfied, it 
is uneasy, it is unhappy. It must throw away 
thought, and be a mere trifler, or it is wretched. 
Every child has more or less of this feeling. The 
restraints of conscience and the voice of conscience 
are now a burden. But having no clear idea of reli- 
gion, (and can he have, before feeling its power ?) he 
feels that religion will only increase the restraints of 
conscience, give her voice new power, and give her 
new fetters, and this is all ! He thinks he shall have 
the same wicked heart after conversion as before, 
and all the addition he will obtain, is, that conscience 
will have new power over him, and the clashings be- 
tween his conscience and feelings will be seven-fold 
increased; — consequently, that every addition of piety 
is another addition of gloom, and of wretchedness. 
He has hitherto known nothing that looks so much 
like religion as conviction of sin, and he imagines that 
real religion is only adding to these convictions till the 
soul stops sinning, and this is religion ! Is it any won- 
der, then, that there is naturally an aversion in the 
mind of all, v/hether children or adults, to religion ? 



34 THE SABBATH SCHOOL TEACHER. 

How to correct this mistake. Illustration. Dialogue. 

They conceive it to be only an accumulation of iron 
in the fetters, — only an addition to the bad feelings 
which already fill the heart. How shall this difficulty 
be met and overcome ? I would advise the teacher 
to become familiar with the workings of his own 
heart, and to become well acquainted with the reli- 
gious experience of other Christians. Let him learn 
the manner in which those who are now Christians, 
once looked at this subject, learn what misapprehen- 
sions and distortions their feelings and imagination 
gave them, and in this way learn to pour light into 
the heart that is darkened by sin, and that aches 
under a sense of its unworthiness. I illustrate this 
point by a conversation which is similar to many 
which I have had since I have been in the pastoral 
office. Nothing is altered but the name of the indi- 
vidual. 

" Mr. G., I am glad to see you of late at our even- 
ing meetings, at our Bible-class, and even out three 
times on the Sabbath. I have long been hoping that 
you would be brought into the fold, and that I should 
have the pleasure of seeing you a decidedly religious 
man." 

" Thank you, Sir ; but I am not certain that I 
shall continue to attend these meetings much longer. 
I have often thought I would have religion, but the 
more religion I obtain, the more gloomy and unhappy 
I feel." 

" I am surprised, Mr. G., — for I did not know that 



THE SABBATH SCHOOL TEACHER. 35 

Dialogue continued. Expansion of the principle. 

you had ' obtained' any ' religion !' Do you mean 
to say, that you have repented of your sins, forsaken 
them all, — that you are now trusting in the blood of 
Jesus Christ, with a heart contrite for your past life, 
full of gratitude for mercy and pardon, and full of 
holy resolution for the future V 9 

" Not exactly so ; but I mean, I have attended your 
meetings, and have heard all you have to say, — that I 
have given my thoughts somewhat to religion, but the 
more I have done it, the more dark it seems, and the 
further I am from being happy. If conscience now 
gives me so little peace, what should I do, were I to 
give up all my thoughts to religion, and let conscience 
have full swing ?" 

" My dear Sir, conscience will have ' full swing,' 
as you call it, to all eternity, even if you are lost, and 
have your portion with unbelievers and hypocrites. 
But this is not religion. Pharaoh and Judas had this 
kind of religion, and it drove them to madness." 

" I don't wonder at it." 

" You have mistaken the lashings of conscience for 
religion. It is true, that the more of such religion 
you have, the more wretched you will be. But have 
I not often explained to you from the pulpit, that 
religion is something widely different from this ?" 

" I don't know ; you often seem to preach contra- 
dictions. I cannot understand why the very first 
movements of the soul towards religion should make 
me more and more unhappy. You tell me it is all 



36 THE SABBATH SCHOOL TEACHER. 



The stubborn son. Clear illustration. 

gold, and when obtained it will render me happy. 
How can a great quantity of gold make me happy, 
when the first small piece I get renders me so miser- 
rable?" 

" Mr. G., you recollect, some days since, you gave 
me an interesting account of your boy. You said he 
ran away from school, and spent three days in the 
company of vicious and idle boys. You recollect 
that you told me, that when you called him to account, 
you shut him up in a chamber without food, till he 
would acknowledge his sin, ask your pardon, and the 
pardon of the school. Am I right ?" 

" Yes, Sir ; but I don't see what this has to do with 
the subject." 

" Did you not tell me, that he held out for three 
days, and that every time you went to the door he 
seemed more stubborn and hardened V 9 

" Yes." 

"Do you suppose he was growing happy during 
this time V 9 

"No, he grew miserable; and my going to his 
chamber and asking him if he would submit, seemed 
almost to render him distracted." 

" Was that submission to you V 9 

" No, to be sure not." 

" Well, did he not grow more and more miserable 
r and wretched, till at last he was brought to submit, 
bow his will to yours, ask your pardon, and the par- 
don of the school 1" 



THE SABBATH SCHOOL TEACHER. 37 



Conclusion of the illustration. 



" Yes." 

"Well, he undoubtedly looked upon the feelings 
of submission, just as* you do upon religion ; the more 
he thought of these feelings, the more he dreaded 
them, and supposed that the feeling of submission 
would be intolerable to bear ; whereas, you said that 
the moment he submitted, the cloud all rolled off, and 
he was perfectly happy. So it is with you. God is 
coming and calling you to repentance ; you are stub- 
born, refuse to repent, and dread to be a penitent, 
because you think your present unhappy feelings 
will continue, and the present agony be increased 
seven-fold ! Sinners frequently think that a change 
of heart consists in nothing but an increase of their 
present feelings, till they become almost insupporta- 
ble. That which your boy finally felt, and which 
we call submission, was not an increase of the feelings 
which he had when you shut him up, but an entirely 
new feeling. And if you ever do really ' obtain re- 
ligion,' it will not be an increase of your present 
feelings, which you call ' religious,' but which in fact 
are awfully wicked, but feelings entirely new. It 
seems to me that God permitted your child to do as 
he did, that you might have a glass in which you 
could plainly see your own character. You are 
wading in miry waters in order to lay the founda- 
tions of your hopes, and complain that God suffers 
the waves to dash over you, to show you their bitter- 
ness, and their filth." 
4 



CHAPTER II. 



SUPERINTENDENT.— CHARACTER AND DUTIES. 

In- almost all communities it is better to have one 
mind preside and direct, than to have more, if we 
can safely trust so much power to one man. But as 
in most cases, this power is in very great danger of 
perversion and abuse, we are careful not to delegate 
it. The government of God is the government of 
one mind, and is the most perfect conceivable. An 
earthly monarchy is, in theory, the most perfect of 
human governments ; but human nature is too selfish 
and too wicked, to make it desirable in practice. 
The family government is that of one presiding, 
directing mind, and as the power is not very liable to 
abuse, it is by far the best possible. The Sabbath 
School is like it; and every Sabbath School must 
have one directing, presiding mind at its head. 

The church is one body : the members are not all 
alike, though all may be useful. One is the eye, 
another the mouth, another the hand, the foot and 



THE SABBATH SCHOOL TEACHER. 39 

Most good men need a leader. Influence of the leader in an army. 

the like. She can furnish many willing hands, and 
ready feet, but they want the eye to guide them. In 
other words, there are multitudes of good people who 
can do good, become very useful, but they want to 
lean on some one for direction. Some are too young, 
and lack experience ; some are, by habit and educa- 
tion, diffident of their own powers; some are com- 
paratively ignorant ; and some are naturally timid and 
indifferent. These are all willing to labor to do 
good, — are desirous to do so; but they want some 
one to guide, direct, and to lead. 

The best army has been routed, and the tide of 
victory rolled suddenly back, by the falLof a leader. 
The army remained the same, the courage the same, 
but they could do nothing without the presiding, 
directing mind. What Xenophon says to his generals, 
may be said to those whom God has raised up to be 
the leaders among his people. " All the soldiers 
direct their eyes to you. — If they behold you dis- 
pirited, they themselves will be cowards. But if you 
appear preparing to attack the enemy, and encour- 
age them onward, be assured they will follow you, 
and attempt to imitate you. And it is fit that you 
should excel them." 

So many qualities of the very highest order need 
to be united in a Superintendent, that I feel afraid 
of beginning to enumerate them, lest the reader 
say, ' he has drawn a character neither to be found 
nor attained.' I am afraid too, of so estimating some 



40 THE SABBATH SCHOOL TEACHER. 



Difficulties of the present subject. Arrangement. Where teachers get power. 



parts of his character as to lead to the impression, 
that they may be sought and cultivated, to the loss, 
or to the neglect of others. The prosperity, life, 
character, and usefulness of a school, depend more 
upon the Superintendent than upon any, and perhaps 
all other things united. Thus, you will at one time 
see a school flourishing, full, and prosperous. It is 
the glory of the congregation. You call a few years 
after, and find it small, drooping, and almost lifeless. 
The reason of this difference, in most instances, is to 
be traced to the different men who superintend it. 

I will first mention the duties which belong to the 
office, and then the traits of character needed to 
meet and fulfil these duties. What I shall try to say 
in a few pages, ought to be drawn out and illustrated 
through a whole volume. 

I would here remark that the teachers ought to be 
annually elected by the church ; and the meeting of 
election ought to be one of examination of the school, 
review of the past, prayer for the teachers and school, 
and of plans for aiding the teachers. This makes 
the teachers feel that they are elected by somebody, 
have a trust committed to them, and are accountable 
to the church. It will give their characters and in- 
structions weight in the sight of the children. Should 
new teachers be needed during the year, the Super- 
intendent ought to nominate, subject to the accept- 
ance of the teachers, ll would, then, have the Super- 
intendent annually elected by the teachers ; and for 



THE SABBATH SCHOOL TEACHER. 41 



How Superintendent to be elected. Importance of the office. 



these reasons ; that if he does not do well, a change 
may be easily made ; that he may feel that he is 
called into office by the teachers, and is responsible, 
in a measure to them ; and especially, that being 
elected by the teachers, he may seem, in the eyes of 
the school, to represent all the teachers, and embody 
their views, feelings, and plans. His office expires 
at the end of a year ; and, if re-elected for a suc- 
cession of years, the greater is the testimony to his 
worth, and the more is he held in honour by the 
whole community. Let him be the very best man 
in the church ; a man of age, — that the teachers may 
feel that they are not under the direction of youth, 
that the parents may feel that they are committing 
their children to experience ; and that the children 
may feel that they are guided by worth and respect- 
ability. " A good name is better than precious oint- 
ment," and what falls from the lips of such a man 
has weight with the school. Under the present sys- 
tem, the office of the Superintendent is the most im- 
portant office in the church, next to that of the Pas- 
tor ; and every pains ought to be taken to secure the 
best man possible, and the man who enters upon that 
office, should feel that he is assuming a very heavy 
responsibility. 

Another reason why the school should be under 
the supervision of the church, besides the desirable- 
ness of having the church cherish it as the apple of 
the eye, is, that if the teachers are not elected by 
4* 



42 THE SABBATH SCHOOL TEACHER. 



Supervision of the Church. Proper place of the Sabbath School. 

the church, if they organize by themselves, and stand 
alone, distinct from the church, there is danger lest 
they feel that they have a distinct organization, dis- 
tinct interests, and may lay their plans, and pursue 
their ends, not only without consulting the wishes of 
the church, but without consulting her interests. I 
shall, in another place, describe the duties of the 
church towards the Sabbath School ; but I wish dis- 
tinctly to say here, that I should lament most deeply 
to see the day, when the teachers in our Sabbath 
Schools shall be found acting independently of the 
churches, and in array against them. There is not, 
cannot be, in nature, any separate interests in the 
two bodies. But should the day come when the fash- 
ion shall prevail, that Sabbath Schools shall be or- 
ganized and carried on, as independent organizations, 
then will heart-burnings commence. Then will many 
of the church withhold their children, the church 
and the minister stand aloof, or become subordinate 
to the school, the power of the church will pass mto 
the school, and the church, in fact, take that parti- 
cular shape. Then will the school control the elec- 
tion of the Pastors of the churches, and do all that 
which is now done by our churches, as such. No 
man can think more highly of the Sabbath School 
system than I do. I trust these pages will prove that 
point. But woe the day, when they shall strive to 
" lord it over God's heritage," and concentrate every 
thing pertaining to the church of Christ in the Sab- 



THE SABBATH SCHOOL TEACHER. 43 



First duty— govern and direct. Self-government necessary. 

bath School. Christ did not organize his church in 
the shape of the Sabbath School, nor can she ever 
assume that shape without destroying her proportions, 
and her existence. The attempt so to shape the 
church can never succeed ; and I trust it will never 
be made. I am not, however, making war upon a 
man of straw; nor would I make these remarks 
without intending to have them mean something, 
proceed to the duties of the Superintendent. 

1. It belongs to him to govern and direct the 
school. 

Men, and indeed, all created beings, must be under 
law, and government. You cannot find the spot, 
whether it be the family, the church, or the Sabbath 
School, in which constant supervision and government 
are not necessary. Some schools will require more 
of government than others, — those in cities more than 
those in the country, — but all require it, and no school 
can be prosperous without it. It is a wise provision 
in this system, that the Superintendent is the Execu- 
tive, and that the teaching and the governing, are, 
in some measure, disconnected. The very first ingre- 
dient in genuine government, is, that the Superintend- 
ent govern himself. Without this, he can never ex- 
ercise a wise control over the school. If he speak 
harshly, or quickly, or peevishly, to the teachers or 
scholars, if his color comes and goes, and the school 
is expecting some out-breaking of impatience, he has 
not self-government. This he must have, and this he 



s 



44 THE SABBATH SCHOOL TEACHER. 

Must have plans. Ingenuity necessary. Discipline necessary. 

is inexcusable for not having. The teachers should 
feel that the government of the school is in his hands, 
and they are to sustain his decisions. At the same 
time, it is well to remember, that the more he can 
conceal his authority, and not make it prominent, and 
continually felt, the better. He should have his plans 
matured, whether they are, or are not, drawn out on 
paper before the school, and silently, steadily, and un- 
hesitatingly, see them carried out. As corporeal 
punishments are properly excluded from this system, 
he must have an accurate knowledge of human na- 
ture, that he may ingeniously contrive modes and sub- 
stitutes. He needs ingenuity to plan, and cool judg- 
ment to execute. I have been fearful that the good 
effects of government and discipline in the Sabbath 
School are not sufficiently appreciated. In most in- 
stances, it will correct evils, and what is better, will 
prevent them in future. Many instances might be 
cited in which boys, who were vicious, disorderly, 
troublesome, and corrupting, have been reclaimed, 
and have become, in after years, efficient, and devoted 
teachers. I will illustrate this by an example or two, 
from undoubted testimony. 

" In a flourishing school connected with one of the 
churches in the city of Washington, there was a 
very rude and unmanageable boy. As all mild 
measures failed to make him better, it was deter- 
mined that he should be sent away from the school. 
To make a deeper and more lasting impression upon 



THE SABBATH SCHOOL TEACHER. 45 

Interesting case of discipline. Effects of the experiment. 

himself and all present, it was also determined that 
this act of discipline should be administered in a 
formal and solemn manner. Accordingly, whilst the 
exercises of the school were going on, the Superin- 
tendent knocked upon the table and called for atten- 
tion. He directed the teacher of the class to which 
the little culprit belonged, to take him by the hand, 
and lead him out into the view of the whole school. 
This done, the Superintendent, in a solemn manner, 
told him, that he had been so bad a boy, the teachers 
were under the painful necessity of sending him 
away from the school, and go he must. After a few 
words of admonition and advice, he gave out an 
appropriate hymn, and the whole school sang it 
standing. The teacher, by the direction of the Su- 
perintendent, then took the boy by the hand, led him 
out of the school, through the vestibule, through the 
enclosure, and through the gate; then closing the 
gate upon him, let him go. The boy wept; the 
teachers and scholars wept; the whole scene was 
most affecting. A salutary influence was exerted 
upon the whole school by this transaction, and it is 
hoped a lasting and most beneficial effect was pro- 
duced upon the little exile himself. For who should 
come the very next Sabbath morning, but the same 
little boy, entreating with tears that he might be 
taken back, and promising that he would hencefor- 
ward be a good boy. The teachers were not un- 
moved by his tears of penitence. They received him 



46 THE SABBATH SCHOOL TEACHER. 

A second example of discipline. Results. 

again into the school, and since his restoration he has 
heen altogether another hoy. He gives no trouble 
to his teacher since." 

Another instance of discipline will show the sym- 
pathy of the school. " It appeared that two of the 
boys had misbehaved, and were, of course, injuring 
the rest of their class. The school was called to 
order, and the usual exercises suspended by the Su- 
perintendent. He then informed the children that 
something was about to take place quite unusual 
among them, but which, he regretted to say, was ex- 
ceedingly necessary. After some very appropriate 
remarks, the two boys were called up to the head of 
the room, in view of the whole school. The teacher 
was then requested to state the offences of which they 
had been guilty; and every other teacher in the 
room desired to give his views of the matter. After- 
wards the Superintendent spoke some time on the 
nature of their conduct, and the consequences that 
might result from it. " And now, children," said he, 
addressing the whole school, " what shall we do with 
these boys ? Shall we expel them 1 I want every 
child who is in favor of their expulsion to rise." The 
children in favor of this course arose, and strange to 
say, there were nine only out of about one hundred 
and eighty, who were in favor of expulsion ! The 
Superintendent then enquired what was to be done 
with the two boys, — they ought not to be suffered to 
injure those around them. " Try them a little 



THE SABBATH SCHOOL TEACHER. 



Direction and classification of the scholar. Exercises of the school. 

longer" was the answer; — and accordingly they 
were permitted to remain on trial for six weeks 
longer." 

In all such cases, the Superintendent requires 
judgment, firmness, and persuasion mingled with au- 
thority. But discipline of this kind, judiciously ad- 
ministered, will always do good. The whole school, 
teachers and pupils, will feel it. 

It belongs to the Superintendent to direct the 
school. It is pretty well ascertained that seldom 
more than six scholars should be committed to one 
teacher ; but to classify these, to put the right chil- 
dren together, to give the right scholar to the right 
teacher, belongs exclusively to the Superintendent. 
Here his wisdom will all be needed, — else he will be 
liable to place the stupid and the quick in contact, — 
the timid, trembling learner, under the bold, off-hand, 
decided teacher ; and the rough, headstrong boy, un- 
der the gentle, timid teacher. 

The Superintendent ought to arrange the classes, 
become acquainted with each class, individually, and 
make his supervision, as far as possible, extend to 
each member of every class. A general supervision, 
and a general care, are not enough. It is his business 
to open and close the school promptly ; — to conduct 
all the exercises of the school, and to give all no- 
tices. He should open the school with prayer, — select 
the hymns for singing, — make the prayers and devo- 
tional exercises short, to the point, fervent, and reve- 



48 THE SABBATH SCHOOL TEACHER. 

Exercises to be short. Second duty,— forming character of teachers. 

rent. He should not address the school more than 
once each Sabbath, by way of application or exhort- 
ation ; and then, he should not speak, as Witherspoon 
used to tell his pupils, " before he has something to 
say, and should always stop when he is done." He 
should not have more than one point, selected from 
the lessons, upon which he tries to pour light, or with 
which he tries to make an impression. The greatest 
difficulty with these exhortations is, that they are apt 
to be too long, — far too long ; and to become tedious 
by sameness. To avoid the latter evil, some read 
stories and anecdotes ; but stories and anecdotes are 
very uninteresting, unless introduced to illustrate 
some point of instruction. To read and tell them 
without illustrating some important weighty instruc- 
tion, is to make your dinner of the spices which are 
designed as a seasoning to your meat. Always re- 
member that the great art of public speaking is to 
be short. You can easily weary an audience of men, 
and almost crucify one of children, by prolixity. 
Even clergymen, who ought, of all men, to under- 
stand this, are often complained of for being too long ; 
and any man is in danger of falling into prolixness, 
in proportion as he is unaccustomed to public 
speaking. 

2. The second duty of the Superintendent is to 
advise with the teachers as to the interests of the 
school, and especially to aid in forming their char- 
acters. 



THE SABBATH SCHOOL TEACHER. 49 



Influence of Superintendent on teachers. 



One of the deepest impressions which I should 
like to have made upon the Superintendent, is, that 
he has almost the whole responsibility of the prosperity 
of the school resting upon him, while he must have 
the help and co-operation of others to do the work. 
Let him feel that the most decided influence which 
he can exert upon the school is through the teach- 
ers, — not by direct precepts and teachings, or reproofs, 
perhaps, but by the general spirit which he creates 
and diffuses around him. Some of these teachers 
may be young and inexperienced: they want the 
example of one who knows how to let himself down 
to the heart of childhood. They will have their 
characters materially shaped and formed by the 
general character and spirit of the Superintendent. 
These teachers must at "times be aroused, — for they 
have forgotten the object at which they aim ; — the 
end for which they commenced their journey. He 
must do this by his spirit of prayer, and by an exam- 
ple that reproves, warns, and encourages. It will 
often be desirable to have a kind of review of the 
ground, with the teachers, by themselves, — to advise 
with them as to the progress made, the evils noticed 
or growing into notice, the plans pursued, and the im- 
provements desired. Has the Superintendent, or any 
of the teachers, found any new light, or received any 
new hints from any source 1 Have they seen or read 
of improvements which might be introduced into their 
school ? Have the teachers a habit of observation, so 
5 



50 THE SABBATH SCHOOL TEACHER. 

Suggestions to the Superintendent. Private record. 

that they can gather materials for teaching from 
every thing — or do they need hints on this point ? 
The Superintendent ought not merely to notice who 
among the teachers is absent, and note it down, and 
at the next meeting, kindly, but decidedly ask the 
reason, but he ought also to be able to know the 
absences from each class, — to know the reasons of 
them from the teacher or the absentee, — to know as 
far as possible, the temperament, habits, and feelings 
of each scholar. And I would here suggest to a Su- 
perintendent to do, — what I am in the habit of doing, 
in regard to each member of the church under my 
pastoral charge. I keep a book in which I write the 
name of each person on the top of the page when 
he enters my church. The whole page under the 
name is left blank. This blank page is to be filled 
up at a future time, — by such memoranda as these ; — 
when the person left us, — where he went, — when he 
died, — traits of character, — influence, &c. &c. By 
this means, I know what has become of all who have 
been under my charge. Such a private record, 
would, in the course of years become not merely in- 
teresting, but invaluable to the Superintendent ; and 
its review would recall the past, and suggest much 
for improvement. It is the duty of the Superintend- 
ent to see that the scholars are visited statedly by 
the teachers. In some schools this is done monthly, 
quarterly, or yearly. The most faithful and most 
successful teacher I have ever known, visited his 



the: sabbath school teacher. 51 



Hints concerning visiting. Influence of innovations. 



class, or saw each scholar, every week. This duty- 
must be insisted on by the Superintendent in his vis- 
its to the classes, and in his private conversations with 
the teachers. I say statedly, whether the visits be 
more or less frequent ; for what is done by impulses 
is seldom well done. I need hardly say that in order 
to train the teachers to habits of regularity, and 
punctuality, the Superintendent must be a pattern 
himself. He must also insist on this as an indispensa- 
ble requisite for the teacher. He can give hints, 
more or fewer, almost every Sabbath. One new 
hint and valuable suggestion dropped by the Super- 
intendent each Sabbath, will soon make an impres- 
sion that will be felt in the school. 

Some Superintendents are frequently making inno- 
vations, introducing new plans, and making new dis- 
coveries of a more excellent way. Not unfrequently, 
indeed, we find a school in which a great improvement 
is said to be made, and with vast success. Awhile 
afterwards, you find the improvement laid aside, and 
the school fallen to its original state. I would not 
speak against improvements ; I believe that they are 
yet to be made; but in most cases, the advantage 
consists solely in the increased zeal and effort with 
which the teachers apply their supposed improve- 
ment. The school is benefited so long as the novelty 
keeps alive exertion, and no longer. Hence, the 
great thing needed in this, and indeed, in every de- 
partment of the Church, is an increased zeal, and an 



52 THE SABBATH SCHOOL TEACHER. 



What is the great thing needed 1 Examinations. 



untiring energy in applying the means already in our 
hands. And laboring for the Church, whether as a 
minister at the altar, or as a teacher in the Sabbath 
School, I should study more to have the means al- 
ready provided for our use, faithfully applied, than to 
invent new. This general remark, of course, applies 
to the whole movements of the Church ; and if it be 
said that I am voting to keep the Church in the dark, 
and to have her grope her way in twilight, instead 
of walking in new and clearer light, I answer, that 
the history of the Church clearly shows, that changes, 
are not, of course, improvements ; — and that she has 
lost more by experimenting upon theories, than in any 
other way. Labor, hard, persevering, untiring labor, 
will make any Sabbath School prosper ; and without 
this, changes and inventions will soon be found to be 
useless. Let this thought be well understood by the 
Superintendent, and it will frequently prevent his 
wasting time in seeking to improve his school by new 
schemes, when the difficulty lies too deep to be reach- 
ed by any such changes. 

The school ought to be examined statedly, — and 
publicly, — once a month, or certainly once a quarter. 
These examinations will be conducted by the Super- 
intendent ; but he will wish to consult with the teach- 
ers in relation to them, — to have their advice, co-op- 
eration, and aid. They should be spirited, short, and 
with no desire of display. To meet these, — to make 
them pleasant to the school, satisfactory to the teach- 



THE SABBATH SCHOOL TEACHER. 53 

Tbird duty,— teacher's meeting. Pastor should instruct teachers, — first reason. 

ers, instructive and useful to the parents and specta- 
tors, — there must be previous training, and adapted- 
ness in the teaching. 

3. Aid in the teachers' meeting, and feel respon- 
sible for it. 

Perhaps my own views may be singular, defective, 
or erroneous; but my impression decidedly is, that 
the teachers ought to meet weekly, for the purpose 
of obtaining a good knowledge of the lesson, and of 
mutual benefit by prayer and conversation ; and that, 
as a general rule, the Pastor of the church ought to 
be the instructer, when the teachers sit down to get 
their lessons. My reasons are these : — 

1. The Pastor is responsible for what food is given 
to the lambs committed to his charge. The Sabbath 
School takes the children, in a measure, out of his 
hand, and that becomes the Pastor to the little flock; 
but it does not, and it cannot, release him from the 
responsibility of seeing that the word is " rightly di- 
vided." He can see that this is done only by sitting 
down weekly with the teachers, and going over the 
lesson familiarly, and teaching them just as he would 
have the lambs taught. This will release his mind 
from any fear lest wrong interpretations are given to 
Scripture, — lest wrong impressions are made upon the 
mind of childhood, or lest modes of thinking or of 
teaching prevail, such as he cannot but feel are mis- 
taken, useless, consuming time, if not in themselves, 
dangerous. 

5* 



54 THE SABBATH SCHOOL TEACHER. 



Second reason. Third reason. 

2. The Pastor is, as a general thing, the best qual- 
ified to aid the teachers to understand the lesson. He 
is, or ought to be, familiar with the tenor and spirit 
of the Bible, knows its great plan, and has that in 
mind when looking at its several parts ; he has long 
been in the habit of studying it, for the purpose of 
understanding and explaining its meaning, has helps 
and aids by which to understand it, which few pos- 
sess ; and, he has the habit of communicating thought, 
and ought to be able, in a given time, say an hour, 
to communicate more thought than any other man. 
To " be apt to teach," is one essential ingredient in 
his character. What would cost another man days 
of hard study, and perhaps weeks, not knowing on 
what books to lay the hand for information, the min- 
ister can at once communicate ; for the ground is 
familiar to him, and he has been over it all repeatedly. 

3. The Pastor should aid the teachers in their 
meeting, because it will give him a deeper interest in 
the school. I have known teachers to shut out the 
minister from all their meetings, from giving his 
views on the lesson, and then bitterly complain be- 
cause he took no deeper interest in the school. But 
who can feel interest in a factory in which he never 
entered, — in a stock of which he owns none, — or in a 
business with which he has nothing to do ? I never 
have known any schools so well conducted, so efficient 
and spiritual, as those in which the minister exerted 
his influence by means of the teachers' meeting. It 



\ 



THE SABBATH SCHOOL TEACHER. 



Business meetings. Misconception of teachers 



binds the Pastor and the teachers together ; it pre- 
vents all feelings of jealousy and complaint, and it 
makes the school the nursery of hearts whose piety 
is kindled at the very altar. There are, undoubtedly, 
exceptions to these remarks ; and perhaps I am speak- 
ing too much of my own delightful experience. 

But besides, or in addition to this hour devoted 
weekly to obtaining a correct and familiar knowledge 
of the lesson, perhaps at its close, there should be a 
meeting under the direction of the Superintendent, 
to review the last Sabbath, — to lay plans for the fu- 
ture, to talk over difficulties and discouragements, 
cases of discipline, irregularities observable in the 
teachers and in the scholars, the state of religion, and 
the means to be used to advance it, &c. This meet- 
ing;; should be a sort of " to-do-good meeting," for mu- 
tual improvement, and for the benefit of the school. 
It might be short ; and if there was little to say, at 
times, the season would be no less profitably employed 
in prayer, and in seeking aid and wisdom from God. 
But even without such meetings, for the purpose of 
going over the lesson, and of laying plans and the like, 
your school cannot prosper. As a general thing, 
teachers with whom I have been acquainted, have 
no adequate conception of the amount of furniture 
necessary in order to teach a class in the Sabbath 
school. Some schools have never had these meetings 
with a view to study the lesson; others have but 
part of the teachers present. Those schools, and 



55 THE SABBATH SCHOOL TEACHER. 

How the school to be increased. 

those teachers, who are neglecting these meetings, are 
suffering a loss, — to say nothing of enjoyment, — which 
is unspeakably great. I have seen teachers who felt 
too wise or too indifferent to attend such meetings, — ■ 
when they came to teach the lesson, find it hard work 
to fill up the hour, and have had to fold their hands, 
and be silent for the last few minutes, — wondering 
why the time to close the school had not arrived. 
The Superintendent ought to be as particular in in- 
quiring for absences from the teachers' meeting, as 
from the school on the Sabbath. 

The increase of the school is a very important part 
of the duties of the Superintendent. Unless great 
pains are taken, every school will diminish, — by the 
removal of scholars, — by deaths, — by the indifference 
of parents, — by the age of pupils, and by other 
causes. The Superintendent will find his little con- 
gregation diminishing from year to year, unless he 
make this an object of special attention. There will 
be new families moving into your precincts, new chil- 
dren growing into the age to attend, but who, through 
negligence, do not enter the school, and there will al- 
ways be materials to fill up the school, at least equal 
to what are withdrawn from it. The object of the 
teachers is not merely to keep the school fulJ, but to 
bring every child in the community under the influ- 
ence of religious instruction. Let the Superintendent 
advise, encourage, and co-operate with, the teachers, 



THE SABBATH SCHOOL TEACHER. 57 

Superintendent should not be dogmatical. 

and have one, and in cities two, special efforts made 
every year, to fill up the school with new scholars. 

But let the Superintendent be careful lest he be- 
come dogmatical ; ' lest in consultation,' to use the 
somewhat obscure, but powerful language of John 
Foster, ' his manner indicate, that when he is equally 
with the rest in possession of the circumstances of the 
case, he does not at all expect to hear any opinions 
that shall correct his own ; but is satisfied that either 
his present view of the subject is the right one, or 
that his own mind must originate that which shall be 
so. This striking difference will be apparent between 
him and his associates, that their manner of receiving 
his opinions is that of agreement or dissent : his man- 
ner of receiving theirs is that of sanction or rejection. 
He has the tone of authority deciding on what they 
say, but never of submitting to the rejection of what 
he himself says. Their coincidence of views does 
not give him a firmer assurance of being right, nor 
their dissent any other impression than that of their 
want of judgment. If his feeling took the distinct 
form of reflection, it would be, i mine is the business 
of comprehending and devising, and I am here to 
rule this company, and not to consult them : I want 
their docility, not their arguments ; I seek not their 
co-operation in thinking, but to determine their con- 
currence in what is already thought for them.' Thus 
many suggestions which seem important to those who 
make them, will be disposed of by him with so slight 



58 THE SABBATH SCHOOL TEACHER. 

Division of schools. Use of sympathy. 

an attention, that it will seem very disrespectful to 
those, who may possibly refuse to admit that he is 
wiser than all men, or that they themselves are idiots.' 
All this must be studiously avoided. 

It may sometimes become a question whether, in a 
single village, for example, the same set of teachers 
shall have one school, or several ; i. e. one large, cen- 
tral school, or several different branches. It is im- 
possible, in answer to all such questions, to do any 
thing more than to lay down general principles. 
There can be no question that a large school has 
many decided advantages over a small one, or several 
small ones. These advantages are obvious. There 
is more excitement and interest in the teachers and 
in the scholars in a large school, than in a small one. 
The Library is managed to better advantage, every 
thing is on a larger scale, and is more animated. If 
the responsibility of the Superintendent is increased, 
so are his means of doing good, and so are the mo- 
tives to exertion. There is something in sympathy, 
mysterious indeed, but exceedingly powerful, and 
w T hich, in a large school, may be used to great advan- 
tage. We know its influence upon the Senator, upon 
the Advocate, and especially upon the pulpit orator. 
The man who is effective, powerful, and almost be- 
yond what is human, before a large audience, is tame 
w T hen speaking to a score of people. Probably the 
man has never yet lived, who could long be an orator 
before a small assembly. Even Cicero could not de- 



THE SABBATH SCHOOL TEACHER. 59 

The principle of sympathy to be used. Used by the Jews. 

liver his famous Oration in behalf of the Poet Archias, 
though addressed to a single man, without having all 
that was learned and great in Rome to hear him. 
People in the country know that their minister speaks 
more eloquently, and the meetings are more interest- 
ing in the summer, than in the winter, — because the 
meetings are more fully attended. 

Having made allusion to a certain principle, per- 
haps I shall not have a better place than this, in 
which to give my views and feelings to those who 
guide our Sabbath Schools, on the possibility of per- 
verting the human sympathies in promoting religion. 

I have long been of the opinion, that regular philo- 
sophical principles are as really employed in revivals 
of religion, under the direction of the Holy Spirit, as 
in any other case. The whole Jewish system of wor- 
ship was designed and arranged to meet the social 
sympathies of man. Read the sublime description 
of the march of the children of Israel as they fol- 
lowed the cloudy pillar, which the luminous, but too 
sceptical pen of Jahn has drawn. Read the songs 
of Degrees in the Psalms of David, which the glad- 
dened tribes sang, as they went three times a year 
up the hill of Zion, to meet the scattered nation, and 
to bow before God in solemn worship. They met on 
the sacred hill . of Zion, — mingled their songs, their 
sacrifices, their prayers, their joys and sorrows, formed 
new acquaintances, revived old friendships, and learn- 
ed the condition of every tribe and corner of the land. 



60 THE SABBATH SCHOOL TEACHER. 

Example of Paul. Remarkable example of Christ. Example of its abuse. 

John the Baptist made use of the same principle; 
so did Christ, and so did Paul, in that remarkable in- 
stance when he held up his clanking chains, and 
wished them all Christians like himself, " except these 
bonds !" The iron of those chains went to the heart, 
and the king and all the court rose up hastily. One 
more such appeal would have opened the flood-gates 
of sympathy, and the king would have felt that he 
was a man. The most remarkable instance of the use 
of the social principle by Christ, was when the curious, 
gazing crowd were for a short time all in raptures, 
cutting down branches of trees, and even stripping off 
their garments to do him homage, as he gloriously en- 
tered Jerusalem on the borrowed ass, to fulfil the 
words of prophecy. The Hosanna-Rabba began on 
the mountain east of Jerusalem, and ran down the 
mountain's side like wild-fire, passed over the valley 
of Jehoshaphat, till it had gone even through the 
crowd of market-men in the court of the temple, and 
reached the little children within. 

Scarcely any thing among men is so awful and ap- 
palling as is this principle, when highly awakened 
and wrongly directed. Let any one read the fear- 
ful history of the Reign of Terror in France, when 
men wore the ears of their butchered fellow-citizens 
in their hats for cockades, — and women were stripped 
to the elbows, and ancle-deep in blood, butchering 
the multitudes as they were brought out of prison, — 
and when the painter David, with a soul refined by 






THE SABBATH SCHOOL TEACHER. 61 

Second example. Example in case of Lafayette. 

the most refining art, for days together, assisted to 
condemn and execute victims, that he might see how 
the blood gushed, and how the livid countenance of 
sudden death looked, — so that he might transfer these 
to the canvas ! Could the history of the dark world 
be written by the pen of the archangel, it would seem 
impossible to exhibit more awful scenes of guilt and 
sin. Read the history of the charges made and re- 
ceived in the battle of Waterloo, and inquire if you 
could gather fifty thousand slain upon an area of two 
miles square, were it not for the awful power which 
sympathy gives, when once excited, and so fearfully 
directed. 

Mather's Magnalia, and the history of the Salem 
Witch-craft, will afford abundant and notable exam- 
ples of what I mean. It seemed as if common sense 
and conscience were thrown away, when they most 
needed these commodities. The whole, or almost the 
whole, may be traced to the power of sympathy. 

We all witnessed its-power, harmlessly exhibiting, 
and expending itself, when Lafayette came to this 
country on a visit, a few years since. A minister of 
the Gospel told me that he was on the common in 
Boston when Lafayette arrived, — amid the rushing, 
the enthusiasm, — and the wild waves of sympathy. 
*' I could not help weeping," said he, " and all around 
me were weeping." 

" Pray, Sir, for what were you all weeping V 

" O, I don't know. I hardly got near enough the 

6 



62 THE SABBATH SCHOOL TEACHER. 

Example of Dr. Franklin. The principle to be used in religion. 

General to see his figure distinctly; but the bells 
were all ringing, the cannon roaring, the people shout- 
ing, — it was such a time ! and every body was so 
much delighted, that all were weeping, and so I wept 
too !" 

A very philosophical reason, if not a very good one! 
Probably few could have been by his side without 
feeling the power of sympathy, and weeping too. But 
why were they weeping ? Because the rest did, — 
and this is reason enough. 

Who has not been amused at Dr. Franklin's de- 
scription of the effects of Whitfield's eloquence upon 
himself? The Doctor had gold, silver, and copper, in 
his pocket, but resolved that he would not give a cop- 
per. He sat, heard, sympathised : first resolved that 
he would give the copper ; then the silver ; and when 
the time came, in went copper, silver, gold and all. 

Now we use this principle very abundantly, and, 
in general, rightly, in religion. Let any one attend 
the great anniversaries of our benevolent Societies 
for the first time. He sits and hears the glowing, 
thrilling, overwhelming appeals there made, and is 
captivated, melted, and almost delirious. He resolves 
that he will now do more for the salvation of men in 
one year, than he has done in any ten preceding 
years. He goes out, thrilling, aching, weeping. The 
next day he feels lassitude, and undoubtedly has some 
feelings not greatly unlike those which the votaries 
of the theatre have. This was not religion ; it was 



THE SABBATH SCHOOL TEACHER. 63 

To be used in Sabbath Schools. 

sympathy wrought up to a high pitch of excitement. 
Just suppose this man to be destitute of religion. Let 
him see all this, feel all this, and have all his sympa- 
thies highly awakened ; let him there resolve that he 
will hereafter live and act as a Christian. He leaves 
the meeting with this solemn resolution: is he a 
Christian ? Possibly he may be ; but most probably 
he is not; — it is only an unsanctified feeling kin- 
dled up. 

This sympathy may be used, and must be used, in 
the Sabbath School. I introduce the subject to 
guard against making it a standard of action, and 
mistaking its power for the power of the Holy Spirit. 
In a school where the Superintendent and teachers 
are faithful, there will be seasons of special tender- 
ness, susceptibility, and seriousness. The teachers 
will unconsciously, and unavoidably, and very pro- 
perly, make use of the principle of sympathy. There 
will be ardent feelings among teachers and among 
pupils ; these will be kindled to a glow. A teacher 
finds a scholar tender, or awakened, He urges him 
to submit to God, — gets him to go home with him, — ■ 
prays with him, and tells the scholar to delay no 
longer, — now is the time, — and he must now kneel 
down, and pray, and give his heart up to God. He 
himself feels as if a crisis had come ; and that the 
salvation of the scholar turns upon this hour; the 
scholar feels so too. He is highly, — unspeakably ex- 
cited. The whole system trembles. He kneels, 



64 THE SABBATH SCHOOL TEACHER. 

How it may be abused. Hints for safety. 

prays, makes the consecration, and says he gives him- 
self up to the service of God. 

" Do you feel any differently from what you did 
before V 

" O yes, widely different." 

" Well, do you now solemnly resolve to be a Chris- 
tian from this hour ?" 

" Certainly I do. I never felt so before ; — I will 
serve God, come what may." 

Now I do not say that this scholar is not a Chris- 
tian, or that this is not conversion ; it may be, and it 
may not be. And here is the danger of such machin- 
ery. Like steam, it is powerful, and may be made 
to do almost any thing, if properly directed ; would 
it were as easy to direct and manage human sympa- 
thy when excited, as to manage steam. 

Could this sympathy always be under the direction 
of devoted, discriminating, judicious, well-balanced 
minds, there would be comparatively little danger. 
But as this is a day of excited sympathy, as the 
young are easily excited, as multitudes have thus 
been aroused and have mistaken this excitement for 
conversion, the Superintendent should understand it. 
The teachers should understand it. Just in propor- 
tion as the passions are excited, let the cause be what 
it may, the judgment is unfitted for its office.. In this 
state, no man can judge correctly and surely of him- 
self or of others. It seems to be a settled principle 
of action with some teachers, that if they can only 



THE SABBATH SCHOOL TEACHER. 65 

Fourth duty, — raising' up new teachers. 

get men excited, they have no fears but all will be 
well, and the more excited they become, the sooner 
conversion will take place. I cannot too earnestly 
recommend that every Superintendent should own, 
and often read, Edwards on the Affections. The 
reader will understand me to say that I have but little 
fear of the abuse of this principle, except on one 
single point ; — viz., that of mistaking excited feeling 
for the conversion of the soul to God. How often 
was this mistaken by the old church ! Read the his- 
tory of their joy on the banks of the Red Sea, when 
Pharaoh was destroyed, — of their solemn vows at 
the receiving of the law, and in multitudes of similar 
cases. Might I specify evils which I have seen re- 
sult from the abuse of the sympathies, — what I have 
said above, would seem any thing, rather than an 
unmeaning digression. 

4. It belongs to the duties of the Superintendent 
to lay plans to raise up new teachers. 

In the late arrangement of the United States' 
government to send several ships in an exploring expe- 
dition to the South Seas, they had to build a number of 
new vessels. Why did they ? They had ships enough, 
good ships, and of the right size ; but they were not built 
for this business, nor adapted to it. It is so with every 
thinp 1 . The Indian constructs the canoe which is to be 

o 

used on the swift river, differ ently from what he does, 
if it is to go on the smooth lake. The horse, the dog 
must have early and careful training, if they attain 
6# 



66 THE SABBATH SCHOOL TEACHER. 

How to raise up teachers. Classes especially organized. 

their highest perfection ; and we all know that a boy 
becomes perfect in any business very much in propor- 
tion to the age at which he began to apply himself 
to it. There will be a very great gain to the power 
of the Sabbath School, when we can have teachers 
who are raised up, and trained for years for this ex- 
press purpose. 

The Superintendent should early and constantly 
lay his plans for this. For this purpose he must 
know each scholar personally, his habits, modes of 
thinking, talent of communicating, and, above all, the 
condition of his heart. Were there no other reason 
why he should strive earnestly for the conversion of 
his school, this would be one of great weight. As 
soon as practicable, I would organize classes of those 
who give promise of becoming suitable teachers, 
place them under the instruction of the very best 
teachers you have. I would not have the idea very 
prominent before the minds of these classes, that 
they are fitting to become teachers, — perhaps it 
would not be best to say anything about it to them 
for some time ; but the teacher ought to understand 
it, to feel the full weight of the charge, — to make it 
his constant desire to instruct these properly, and his 
earnest prayer, to lead them to Christ and to holiness. 
No judicious means ought to be omitted to lead them 
to God. The teacher should feel that not a single 
exertion should be relaxed so long as there is one 
who is not converted to God. The Superintendent 



THE SABBATH SCHOOL TEACHER. 67 

Habits of Superintendents. Bad examples cited. 

should feel this ; and the teachers at their prayer- 
meetings should make them the subjects of fervent 
prayer. These classes should be selected with care, 
formed on right principles, led by an even hand, and 
most thoroughly and judiciously instructed. In order 
to do this, the Superintendent ought to bear in mind 
unceasingly, that his school must be a model. He 
must try to be, and to have his teachers, and the 
whole school, just what he would wish these scholars 
to make their schools, when they come to have the 
care of schools. He must indulge himself in no habits 
which they may not safely follow. For example, I 
know one Superintendent who as regularly sleeps 
during the sermon, as the sermon is preached. I doubt 
whether he has heard a sermon for years. And yet, 
when he comes to take the head of the school, he 
feels that every word which he says, must be attended 
to, and would feel that a scholar ought almost to be 
sent from school, who should sleep during one of his 
exhortations ! I know of another, who uses tobacco 
in such profusion, that his person is slovenly almost to 
loathing, and his breath is positively annoying. Can 
such men feel that they are setting examples which 
the teachers and the school may safely follow 1 What 
an exhibition would a Sabbath School make, should 
they all sleep soundly through every sermon 1 It may 
be said that this is an infirmity, and that such men 
cannot avoid sleeping in the house of God, — the 
habit is too strong. I reply, that if for twenty or 



68 THE SABBATH SCHOOL TEACHER. 

Lightness of conduct. To be a model. Fifth duty,— retaining' older scholars. 

even ten years, they have been inducing habits, 
which, if followed by all, would destroy all effects of 
the Gospel, and even public worship itself, it is time 
for them to begin to form better habits ; and if they 
will not do that, I have no hesitation in saying, it is 
time for them to leave superintending the Sabbath 
School. Some Superintendents have a lightness 
about their conversation and manner, which seem 
wholly incompatible with a deep sense of responsi- 
bility ; or a foppery about their dress which indicates 
great thought and care about their beautiful per- 
sons, and which cannot be imitated by the school 
without ruining it. 

It will not be necessary to specify all the little 
things which must be avoided by the Superintendent. 
Let him constantly feel that his is to be a Model 
School for the imitation of all those whom he is en- 
deavoring to qualify to become teachers, and he will 
be likely to walk circumspectly. 

5. It is a part of the Superintendent's duties to 
form plans by which the older scholars shall he kept 
in the school. 

It is a great mistake running through all classes 
of this country and of this age, to suppose that the 
mind can be matured and educated quick, and while 
it is young. Our young men must be educated and 
all ripe for active life by the time they have com- 
pleted their teens ; and our girls, almost by the time 
they have entered them. Hence the Sabbath School 



THE SABBATH SCHOOL TEACHER. 69 

First method of doing this. 

has been considered a sort of nursery, for the benefit 
of children ; and as soon as scholars have become 
mature, so that they can begin fully to reap the ad- 
vantages of the system, they are taken away, or 
they take themselves away. As a general thing, 
the scholar who has arrived at the age at which he 
feels that he is too old to belong to the Sabbath 
school, would receive more good by the next year's 
instructions, than by any four or five of the previous 
years. The Superintendent will find it somewhat 
difficult to alter this fashion ; but he should strive to 
do it ; and he can do very much, even if he cannot 
do all that he would wish. I will suggest a few 
hints as to the manner in which it may be done. 

(a.) Make the impression that it is dishonorable to 
leave the school without a regular written dismis- 
sion from the Superintendent. 

Let this impression once be made, and the charac- 
ter thus acquired will be worth much in after life. I 
have known of several young men coming from Europe 
to this country, who have found their certificates of 
having been regular members of the Sabbath School, 
a number of years, worth more to them than all the 
other papers which they brought. Such a certificate 
gives confidence, that the character of the bearer is 
based upon a valuable foundation. Now, if you are in 
the habit of giving a correct certificate when the pupil 
leaves the school, and can make the impression that it 
is really valuable, you will find the scholars more will- 



70 



THE SABBATH SCHOOL TEACHER. 



Second method. Third method. 

ing to continue in the school ; and if it be disreputa- 
ble to leave without such a certificate, few will be 
willing to lose what they have been so long in ac- 
quiring. In order to effect the object aimed at, 
every Superintendent will see the necessity of not 
receiving scholars, except in very extraordinary cir- 
cumstances, from other schools, without a regular 
written dismission. 

(b.) Do not let the older scholars get in advance 
of the teachers. 

Some teachers are absolutely stationary ; they ac- 
quire no new thoughts, or if they do, they do not re- 
tain them long enough to make them of any use. 
They read little, think less, and soon have their 
stock of thoughts exhausted. The scholars are sure 
to know the depth of their teacher. They will be 
inquisitive, quick, bright, and it may be, will go be- 
yond him. As soon as the pupil has arrived at that 
point, he will be uneasy, — his duties will become 
irksome, and he will wish to leave the school. The 
remedy is obvious. Teaching must be provided, 
which is sufficiently advanced to meet the wants of 
every class, and of every individual. This is a point 
at which the Superintendent ought carefully to look ; 
and perhaps he will find that the uneasiness and 
restlessness of the scholars have been blamed, when 
the fault is not wholly theirs. 

(c.) Be careful to keep the library filled with books 



THE SABBATH SCHOOL TEACHER. 71 



Fourth method. 



suited to the advanced age and improvement of your 
oldest scholars. 

This is one of the hest honds to keep the scholars 
with you, and one on which you may usually rely 
with certainty. Books of a high character should be 
selected, kept in such order as to be inviting ; and I 
am not sure that it would not be wise to have a library 
separate and distinct for the sole use of the older 
scholars. I once made the experiment of forming a 
library for young men and young ladies separate 
from the Sabbath School. There were shortly 
several hundred volumes gathered, and they were 
probably of much greater use than the same number 
of books are to a Sabbath School in the ordinary 
way. 

(d.) Labor and pray for the conversion of the 
older scholars, if not already converted. 

This will give them the spirit of little children. 
As soon as a scholar is converted to God, he feels 
that the Sabbath School is more precious than ever 
before. His pride will not take him from it, for his 
pride is subdued, and his feelings will lead him to 
stay. This is the great thing to be attained. Once 
bring these learners into the fold of Christ, and they 
will then continue in the school, will improve rapidly, 
will add a blessing to the school, and you will have 
Ihe pleasure of seeing them sitting at the feet of 
Jesus, like a young church, fitting to meet temptation, 
to do his will, and to receive his rewards. 



72 THE SABBATH SCHOOL TEACHER. 

Fifth method First trait of character needed by the Superintendent. 

(e.) When the time arrives, when the scholars can 
be more benefited by going into the Bible classes 
under the care of the Pastor of the church, by all 
means encourage them to do it. 

This supposes that every Pastor has a male and a 
female Bible class, which ought to be the case, ex- 
traordinaries excepted. These classes will lie at the 
foundation of the church, and of all that is good 
among you. I am aware that it is sometimes the 
case that the Superintendent and teachers are un- 
willing to transfer their precious charge ; and they 
feel as a Pastor feels, when his flock is passing out 
of his hands into those of others. It is human nature, 
to wish to keep all the ground which we have ever 
occupied. This renders dismissed ministers some- 
times unpleasant parishioners, — it makes churches 
unwilling to colonize and plant new churches, and it 
makes Sabbath School teachers sometimes clash 
with the true interests of the cause of religion. Re- 
member that though this is human nature, it is hu- 
man nature fallen, and the principle is a selfish one. 

I have now mentioned, briefly, the duties of the 
Superintendent. I need not again go over the whole 
ground in describing the traits of character which he 
needs, and which he needs assiduously to cultivate. 
A few words will be sufficient to sum up the most 
prominent points of character needed. 

1. Age and experience ; — In order to have a know- 
ledge of the human heart, — a deep knowledge of 



THE SABBATH SCHOOL TEACHER. 73 

Second trait. Third trait. Fourth trait. 

his own heart, — the habit of close self-examination, — 
in order to have the confidence of the teachers, the 
community, and the scholars ; — in order to speak and 
pray in public acceptably, and appropriately ; — and 
in order to have that weight accompany his advice, 
directions, and instructions, which can be obtained 
only by a character known, and tried, and approved. 

2. Devotedness to religion; — that he may be a 
man of prayer, by which alone wisdom that is profit- 
able to direct can be obtained ; — that he may be 
unwearied in his attempts to aid the teachers, that 
he may thoroughly understand the lesson himself, and 
communicate it with a simple and sincere desire to 
save the soul. 

3. Evenness of temper ; — that the school may feel 
that the hand which holds the helm, never varies, — 
that the teachers may find their intercourse pleas- 
ant, and may go to him as to a friend, without ever 
expecting to be wounded by irritability; — that parents 
may find it pleasant to go to the school, and witness 
the improvement of their children, — that strangers 
may find a courteous reception, and their visit be ren- 
dered profitable. Self-government is invaluable, — 
indispensable to the Superintendent. 

4. Great promptness of character; — that the 
school may be opened and closed with great exact- 
ness, that no exercises may be long and tedious, that 
the teachers and school may know what to depend 

7 



7.4 THE SABBATH SCHOOL TEACHER. 



Fifth trait. Sixth trait. 



upon, — that they may know that no changes will 
take place without great deliberation and thought. 

5. Growing humility, — otherwise, his station, the 
deference exacted and paid, and the influence 
exerted, will make him a Diotrephes. He must cul- 
tivate piety in his own heart, and become like the 
angels who are ministers to worms of the dust, and 
are good ministers in proportion as they are humble. 
True exaltation and greatness consist in great hu- 
mility. 

6. An example in all that is good; — he should be 
fervent, simple, unaffected in prayer, increasing in a 
knowledge of the Bible, prompt, liberal, noble in 
charity, untiring in labors, warm in Christian inter- 
course, growing in all the Christian graces, and 
living for the salvation of the earth. 

Such should be the Superintendent of the Sab- 
bath School. 



CHAPTER III. 



QUALIFICATIONS OF A GOOD TEACHER. 

In the enumeration of the qualities desirable in a 
Sabbath School teacher, it is not to be supposed that 
every teacher will possess them all in due proportion. 
Few characters are perfectly symmetrical; and 
where there are great excellencies, there are usually 
great defects. The latter must be overlooked for 
the sake of the former. The success of men in 
doing good to the souls of men, from the apostle down 
to the distributor of tracts, depends greatly upon 
the state of the heart. Indeed, without a right state 
of heart, all other qualities will for the most part be 
useless. I begin to describe the Sabbath School 
teacher, then, by saying, that 

1. He should be a devotedly 'pious man. 

The office of a teacher is, and must be, one of 
self-denial ; the labor necessary to acquire the lesson 
to be taught, to understand the best way of commu- 
nicating truth, the stupidity, restlessness, listlessness, 

75 



73 THE SABBATH SCHOOL TEACHER. 



Testimony of experience. 



and trying appearance of the class from week to 
week, the want of government at home, and the utter 
indifference of most of the parents, the return of the 
same routine of duties, the obscurity of the station, 
the amount of labor bestowed unknown and unappre- 
ciated, and the entire loss of so much labor, all unite 
to make the office of a teacher a drudgery and a 
burden. I cannot express my own views on this point 
better than to give an extract of a letter addressed 
to me by a Superintendent, — a lady, — and one of 
great experience and character. " My own opinion 
is, that the Sabbath School teacher sustains the same 
relation to the children of his charge, that a Pastor 
does to his flock. He is emphatically the spiritual 
guide of the little ones committed to him, and his 
responsibility as touching the eternal interests of the 
six or eight deathless souls who cluster around him 
on the Sabbath, seems to me to be precisely that 
which the Pastor sustains to the same number who 
sit under his ministry, and receive from him the bread 
of life. If children are blessed with pious parents, 
who not only teach them to read the word of God, 
but are wont to enforce it with their admonitions and 
prayers, why place them, during the sacred hours of 
the Sabbath, under the care of one who cannot be 
expected, with a heart overflowing with earnest de- 
sires for their salvation, to point them to a crucified 
Savior? If, on the contrary, the neglected one is 
from a family where the holy name of God never 



THE SABBATH SCHOOL TEACHER. 77 

Results of experience. 



falls upon his ear, except from a profane and intem- 
perate father, and where no praying mother com- 
mends this child to God, (and alas ! how many such 
are found in our schools !) is the class of the teacher 
who has never felt the love of Jesus, the refuge for 
this ignorant and wretched child 1 I have often, as a 
Superintendent, in my experience, had my feelings 
severely tried on this very point, although of late 
years no teachers have been admitted to the school 
with which I am connected, except such as entertain 
the hope that they are the children of God. A child 
is introduced into the school, perhaps well known to 
be greatly neglected at home. My anxious eye is 
invariably turned to the seat occupied, — not by the 
cold, uninterested teacher, even though a professor 
of religion, — but by the devoted, praying teacher, 
who constantly pours into the ear, and presses home 
upon the hearts of her pupils, the* truths of God's 
holy word. If no vacancy is found in such a class, I 
feel that almost a wrong is inflicted upon the 
child who is committed to the charge of one who 
feels but little for the priceless gems she is forming 
for eternity. I can well recollect, a few years 
since, an aged and holy mother in Israel entered 
our school, leading by the hand two little grand- 
children. As I went forward to meet her, she took 
my hand, and addressing me in a familiar man- 
ner, with a solemnity of countenance, and an im- 

pressiveness of voice I can never forget, she said, 

7# 



78 THE SABBATH SCHOOL TEACHER. 

The grand -mother. Great and absorbing design of Sabbath Schools. 

* these are my grand-children ; remember that you 
take care of their souls. I commit them to you.' I 
felt constrained to take these to the class of a teacher 
whom I knew to be faithful, and to repeat the 
solemn admonition I had received. It may be possi- 
ble, and there probably are cases, where it would be 
more desirable, than to leave them without a Sab- 
bath School, to place children who have no religious 
instruction, under the charge of those who do not 
possess true piety, but who are competent to teach 
them to read the word of God. In desolate portions 
of our country where Christians are few in number, 
such teachers, under the direction of a devoted Su- 
perintendent, who as far as possible will endeavor to 
make up this deficiency, by giving special religious 
instruction himself, may be better than none ; but 
where large churches in our cities and villages con- 
tain great numbers of the followers of Christ, every 
method should be used to impress upon their hearts 
the importance of fulfilling the injunction of our 
blessed Master, " feed my lambs." 

" I know it is said that teachers in great numbers 
have been converted in the Sabbath School, and 
therefore, we should admit those to be teachers who 
have not piety, for the sake of doing them good. But 
I ask, what is the great, absorbing design of the in- 
stitution of Sabbath Schools 1 Is it not to train up 
the rising generation for God? If this be its first 
and commanding object, then clearly our duty is to 



THE SABBATH SCHOOL TEACHER. 79 



Powerful influence of the teacher. 



make every thing bear upon securing this great end. 
A teacher is now and then converted ; but how many 
children may have passed from under his care un- 
warned and unholy into eternity ; or, led astray by 
his example, others may have entered upon the busy 
concerns of life with hearts unsubdued by the grace 
of God ! The providence of God may have taken 
from one a beloved father, and his heart softened by 
afflictions, and under the influence of the Holy Spirit, 
he may be just upon the point of submitting to the 
blessed Savior. He goes to the Sabbath School, but 
his teacher is not watching with eager solicitude to 
see the tear of penitence, and to lead the burdened 
sinner to the foot of the cross. The inquiry which 
was ready to break from his lips, is driven back, by 
the look of indifference from his unconscious teacher. 
The blind cannot lead the blind. A Superintendent, 
under such circumstances, if faithful, will not fail to 
do his duty ; but I am persuaded that no Superin- 
tendent can gain that influence over the children of 
the School which each individual teacher may possess 
over his class. Those who have had most experience 
cannot have failed to observe the strong hold which 
teachers have upon the hearts of the children of their 
class ; and how astonishing is the influence exerted 
over them by their faithfulness or unfaithfulness. I 
will mention one fact to illustrate this point. On the 
distant shores of China lives and labors a youthful 
missionary, who, I think, was but twenty-one years 



80 THE SABBATH SCHOOL TEACHER. 



Testimony of a young missionary. Discussion continued. 



of age, when h left a happy home, to go and fulfil 
the dying command of his Master, ' go preach the 
Gospel to every creature under heaven.' He was 
nurtured in our Sabbath School from his earliest boy- 
hood ; and when of sufficient age, filled with much 
zeal and faithfulness, for several years, the responsi- 
ble office of teacher. On the evening preceding his 
departure from us, at our accustomed weekly meeting 
of teachers, when taking his leave, he made this re- 
mark, " Do not be discouraged in your work. I am 
indebted to my faithful Sabbath School teacher for 
the first desires which were kindled in my bosom, and 
my final determination to be a missionary of the 
cross." It is not certainly for us to say what other 
way the providence of God might have opened to lead 
to the same result, had this lovely youth been placed 
under the care of a teacher possessing a different 
spirit ; but this seems certain, that this teacher, who 
had in charge the training of the future missionary, 
will find him a bright gem in the crown of his re- 
joicing." 

I know I shall be pardoned for this long extract 
of a letter so judicious, and so much to the point. 

Let the question be plainly asked — what is to be 
taught in our Sabbath Schools 1 And the answer is 
plain, — the way of salvation. Each child is to be 
trained up so far as is possible, for the service of God. 
Need the question be discussed, who are to be the 
guides, as a general rule, to lead the child to the 



THE SABBATH SCHOOL TEACHER. 81 



Holiness needed. What the duty of teachers not pious. 

Lamb of God 1 It certainly is a work which none 
but a pious heart can appreciate, — it is to be done 
by means which none but a heart taught of God can 
understand and use, — and it requires a continuance 
of virtues which none but a renewed heart can exer- 
cise. I am confident I speak the language of thou- 
sands when I say, that as a parent seeking the best, 
the eternal welfare of my children,! should not, — could 
not, commit such interests into hands which were not 
guided by a pious heart. My own feelings have done 
more to convince me, and to enlighten me on this 
point, than pages of argument. 

We want more than the professor of religion for 
our Sabbath School ; — we want holiness — that holi- 
ness which, in times that try men's souls, would give 
up all, and go even to the stake, with the song of life 
upon the tongue ; — that holiness which in these times, 
can resist the temptations of Mammon, the bewitch- 
ing allurements of the world, — which are almost as 
trying to piety as persecutions and the stake, — and 
which can live for God and his glory. 

What, then, do I say to those who are already en- 
gaged in teaching the Sabbath School, but who have 
no evidence that they have been born of God ? Shall 
they at once leave their seats, their classes, and re- 
tire ? I reply, no : but I say to such, just as I would 
say to ministers of the Gospel, who should confess 
that they have never felt the power of religion on 
their own hearts ; — shall they leave the pulpit, and 



82 THE SABBATH SCHOOL TEACHER. 



Second requisite,— good habits. 



cease to preach — because they are blind leaders of 
the blind ? I say to such, — no ! brethren, no ! You 
have ordination-vows upon you. You haye put your 
hand to the plough ; you may not look back ; — but 
you ought not again to go into that pulpit with an 
unholy heart. You ought this hour to go before God, 
and with a broken heart and a contrite spirit, to con- 
fess your sins, ask for pardon, and sin no more. I do 
not ask you to stop preaching because you have an 
unholy heart ; but I do ask you no longer to be so 
basely ungrateful as to cherish such a heart. Just 
so I say to the unconverted teacher in the Sabbath 
School; you do wrong, — you profess to teach the 
child what you do not understand, — you try to make 
him love that which you do not love yourself; you 
profess by the art of teaching, to show the child that 
his soul is the great object of life, when you are in- 
different and stupid about your own. This is wrong 
every way. Would the child pray 1 Your example 
is against him. Would he work out his own salva- 
tion with fear and trembling 1 Your example shows 
him that it is not necessary. Would he weep in se- 
cret places over his sins, and a hard heart ? He is 
afraid to tell his feelings to you, knowing that you 
are a stranger to them. 

2. The second qualification of a good teacher will 
cover the extensive ground of good habits. 

This may seem at first view to embrace the whole 
of personal character. Perhaps it does. I shall not 



THE SABBATH SCHOOL TEACHER. 83 

First habit, — perseverance. 

stop to analyze, but at once proceed to mention the 
habits desirable in a Sabbath School teacher. 

(a.) Perseverance in whatever you undertake. 

No one ought to enlist in this cause without having 
first well counted the cost ; and having once enrolled 
yourself as a teacher, let there be no turning back. 
Some are never willing to walk the same path that 
other people do, — they must strike out something 
new, and will persevere so long as they feel that they 
have a new road, and that it will not lead, ultimately, 
into that which is occupied by other people. Others 
will set out with great zeal for a time, and it seems 
as if they were to do something great ; but their zeal 
soon cools, and their courage relaxes. Like some of 
the beautifully equipped soldiers, who have never 
known real, hard service, they at the first call of the 
bugle move off to admiration ; but a few miles de- 
stroys all their courage, and even their arms seem 
too burdensome. We do not want soldiers for parade- 
days, who can show a nice uniform, and who can 
manoeuvre to admiration when on parade, but who 
cannot endure a long march, and who are worn out 
by a. single campaign of hard service. Remember 
that you came into the business voluntarily, — of your 
own choice ; and if there were reasons why you 
should commence these duties, there are many more 
why you should continue in them. You feel like 
shrinking away, at times, and can say, ' O that I had 
the wings of a dove, then would I fly away and be 



84 THE SABBATH SCHOOL TEACHER. 

May not withdraw. Apply the principle to ministers. 

at rest.' You see no fruits of your labors, and you 
feel discouraged ! You cannot persevere ! Let me 
tell you that if we might fall back when we meet 
with discouragements, then would most of the minis- 
ters of the Gospel take off the harness, and retire 
from their anxieties and responsibilities. I venture to 
say, there is not a minister in the land who prays for 
faithfulness, and who weeps over his own deficiencies, 
that does not at times wish, to retire and leave the 
work, were it not that he is bound by conscience. 
You find that the retired, but repeated labors of the 
school-room are fatiguing, — that you are cut off from 
many hours of reading, meditation, and even devo- 
tion, — that you cannot often go and see your friends 
abroad, because your class cannot well be left ; that 
you cannot spare time to get your lessons, and besides 
all this, you do not see that you do any good ! I reply, 
that the children whom you instruct may be young, 
may be ignorant, may be spoiled by bad example at 
home, — yours may be the only impressions about reli- 
gion they ever receive ; they are soon to be a part of 
the nation, and will help to form its character ; — and 
above all, they have immortal souls to be saved or 
lost. Would you not condemn a minister of Christ 
who should turn back, and give up his profession be- 
cause he met with discouragements ? Would you 
not blame a missionary of the cross, who left his field 
and came home with his hands hanging down, and 
his heart failing him, crying out, 'that he met with 



THE SABBATH SCHOOL TEACHER. 85 

Noble example of Mr. Charles. 

difficulties, and could not persevere?' You do not 
persevere, — and you chill the hearts and freeze the 
zeal of all who are engaged with you. You cease to 
persevere, and perhaps your class is scattered, — per- 
haps others become discouraged, and your example 
may, for a time, destroy the school. You desert a 
work which God has most abundantly blessed, — by 
which he has raised up multitudes of new friends, 
and by which thousands have been led to heaven ; — 
you abandon the work, too, at a day when we need a 
thousand active, devoted men, to every one whom we 
now have. Stand, then, at your post, and in your 
lot. Do not attempt too much at once. Do not be 
fickle, and change often. I admire the spirit of Mr. 
Charles, one of the most successful teachers in Wales, 
— a man of a noble spirit. " My maxim has been 
for many years past," says he, " to aim at great 
things, but if I cannot accomplish great things, to 
do ichat I can, and be thankful for the least success, 
and still follow on without being discouraged at the 
day of small things, or by unexpected reverses. For 
years I have laid it down as a maxim to guide me, 
never to give up a place in despair of success. If 
one way does not succeed, new means must be tried ; 
and if I see no increase this year, perhaps I may 
the next. I almost wish to blot the word impossible 
from my vocabulary, and obliterate it from the minds 
of my brethren." You must not expect to see the 
mind of each scholar shoot up, and mature at once — 
8 



THE SABBATH SCHOOL TEACHER. 



Like the work of the sculptor. Interesting example of perseverance. 

to see old habits at once thrown off, the effects of a 
bad training at once counteracted. It will require 
time, and persevering labor. " We cannot and we do 
not expect that the human marble, (to borrow the 
figure of an old philosopher,) is to leap out upon us, 
self-formed, and self-wrought, from the quarry. But 
it requires the force and the art of the chisel, to fash- 
ion it into all those shapes of grace and beauty which 
it ought to wear." Teachers are moral sculptors, and 
must be contented to labor long and faithfully to fit 
these models of all that is good, for the various niches 
of society. One single teacher in the school who has 
genuine perseverance, will do more for that school 
than a score of fickle, changeable, and easily-discou- 
raged teachers. Who can help admiring the follow- 
ing specimen of this quality ? "I knew a pious 
young man who was sustaining himself at a literary 
institution by the labors of his own hands, and almost 
as a matter of course, the true energies of Christianity 
began to develop themselves. His feelings became 
much affected by the spiritual condition of a popu- 
lous neighborhood, which had never enjoyed religious 
privileges, and consequently did not appreciate them. 
He visited the families of that neighborhood from 
house to house, and endeavored to open a religious 
meeting among them. They would permit no such 
thing. Not discouraged, this young man turned to 
the children, and went round and invited them, one 
by one, to meet him on Sunday-mornings in a Sun- 



THE SABBATH SCHOOL TEACHES. 87 

School in the stable. Second habit,— punctuality. 

day School. Several children acceded to the propos- 
al, and then he again went round to find a room for 
them to meet in ; but every door was closed against 
him. He told the children to meet him under a 
shady tree upon a grassy bank ; and thither they 
came, and he prayed with them, and taught them to 
study the word of God, and the children were de- 
lighted with their Sunday School. So it went on 
from week to week, with increasing interest, and in- 
creasing numbers, till one Lord's day opened with a 
cold storm of rain. The teacher repaired to his tree 
at the usual time, supposing some few children might 
be there ; and there indeed he found almost his 
whole school ; wet and cold, it is true, but they had 
warm hearts in their bosoms, and how could they 
forego the enjoyments of their beloved Sunday School 
for a single morning ? The teacher took off his hat 
and prayed as usual for the blessedness of God upon 
the exercises, and began to teach, when a man in 
the place told him that for that time he might take 
the children into his stable. The teacher turned to 
the children and said : ' This man offers us the use 
of his stable, and it was in a stable that Jesus Christ 
took shelter when he was a little child. Let us go.' 
This is what I mean by the energies of Christianity." 
2. The second habit to be mentioned is that of 

PUNCTUALITY. 

The teacher should constantly bear in mind that 
the great thing which he wishes to accomplish is to 



THE SABBATH SCHOOL TEACHER. 



Testimony of a correspondent. 



form proper habits in his class. These form the char- 
acter ; for as has been quaintly remarked, " man is 
only a bundle of habits." The remark of Robert 
Hall is a weighty one — that " if we look upon the 
usual course of our feelings, we shall find that we 
are more influenced by the frequent recurrence of 
objects, than by their weight and importance ; and 
that habit has more force in forming our character 
than opinions have." In all the instructions given to 
teachers, this habit is insisted on ; and yet I fear it is 
not sufficiently felt. " A requisite," writes one of my 
most valued correspondents, " which all will agree to 
be indispensable in a Sunday School teacher, is 
punctuality. No one can be a good teacher who is 
not a punctual one. Every thing valuable in a class 
depends, under God, upon this. In my experience I 
have never seen a blessing follow the labors of a 
teacher who failed in this particular. It is al- 
ways sufficient ground to believe that a teacher 
does not love his work, if he be found absent from 
his post, when his fellow-laborers are pleading for the 
blessing of God upon their labors. As a certain con- 
sequence of his delinquency, the children become 
dilatory in their attendance. I have long since made 
up my mind that the duty of the Superintendent in 
such cases is to enforce the rules of the School, how- 
ever great the trial may be to his own, or to the 
feelings of others. When the interests of the school 
are thus at stake, he is not at liberty to choose his 



THE SABBATH SCHOOL TEACHER. 89 

Loss of time by tardiness. 

course. The path of duty is always that of safety, 
though it may lead through trial. I do not value the 
labors of any teacher who is unwilling to step out 
of his path of ease or convenience, in order to fulfil 
the responsibilities which he has voluntarily assumed 
in his Master's vineyard." 

Teachers err here, frequently, through want of 
consideration. Suppose a school consists of one hun- 
dred and fifty scholars, and the teachers twenty-five. 
Suppose several teachers come so late that the Su- 
perintendent must delay opening the school for five 
minutes. This seems a short time to wait. Take 
the one hundred and seventy-five which compose the 
school and multiply it by five, and you have eight 
hundred and seventy-five minutes lost. Suppose this 
take place once on every Sabbath; the loss for one 
year is seven hundred and fifty-eight hours ; and sup- 
pose the same set of teachers continue this for five 
years, it would be three thousand seven hundred and 
ninety hours. If, now, we suppose the habit to be 
by them perpetuated in the school, and transmitted 
down, and, above all, be woven into the habits of the 
hundreds of pupils, and become a part of their char- 
acter, no arithmetic can compute the evils of such a 
habit. 

You come late this morning to your class. The 

results are, that your scholars are disappointed ; they 

take their seats, see the school opened, and feel 

lonely, having no teacher. The Superintendent feels 

8* 



THE SABBATH SCHOOL TEACHER. 



School confused by tardiness. 



at a loss what to do. He sees the lambs without a 
guide. He waits as long as he dares to do. He 
goes round the house to find somebody whom he may 
lay hands on and press into the service. Finding 
none, he has to come back, and take the class, and 
unite it, most reluctantly on all sides, with some other 
class. The whole school is disturbed by the process. 
He kindly says, he " presumes the teacher is sick." 
This is done, and soon you come hurrying in, with 
that quick, noisy step, which always indicates a con- 
sciousness of being too late. The class must again 
be disunited and taken to their own seats, while the 
school is again disturbed, and the mortified Superin- 
tendent sees that you are any thing but sick. Let 
me assure you that you have attracted notice, — shown 
that you were of some importance, — but you have 
lowered yourself in the estimation of every one in 
the house. A want of punctuality amounts to rob- 
bery. 'A short time since at a village in the neigh- 
borhood of London, a committee of eight ladies, who 
managed the concerns of an institution which had 
been formed for the relief of the neighboring poor, 
agreed to meet on a certain day, at twelve o'clock 
precisely. Seven of them attended punctually at 
the appointed hour, the eighth did not arrive till a 
quarter of an hour after. She came in according to 
the usual mode, with " I am very sorry to be behind 
in the appointed time, but really the time slipped 
away without my being sensible of it ; I hope youi 



THE SABBATH SCHOOL TEACHER. 91 



Rebuke of a Quakeress. Curious and melancholy example. Remiss teacher. 

goodness will excuse it." A Quaker lady replied, 
" had thyself only lost a quarter of an hour, it would 
have been merely thy own concern ; but in this case, 
the quarter must be multipled by eight, as we each 
lost a quarter, so there have been two hours of use- 
ful time sacrificed by thy want of punctuality."' 

The following description of a teacher who lacked 
the quality of punctuality, though longer than I could 
wish, is yet so graphic, that I may not withhold it. 

"About this time a new teacher offered his ser- 
vices, who was deemed in every respect qualified to 
instruct this class ; he possessed good natural under- 
standing, a well-cultivated mind, and, in some respects 
he was industrious and persevering. He rose early, 
except occasionally on Sabbath mornings, when he 
though it prudent to indulge himself a little. Sun- 
days were the only days when he ever left home 
without private prayer for a blessing on the concerns 
of the day. Indeed, he found no time : as it was, he 
generally went late to the school, and on more than 
one occasion, he came in just in time to hear a stran- 
ger address the children on the importance of always 
being early and punctually at school. When he thus 
lost an hour in the morning, he felt somewhat dis- 
pleased with himself, and nothing seemed to go right 
all day. The children soon acquired the habit of 
coming late ; perhaps they did not wish to hurt the 
feelings of their teacher by being in their places an 
hour before him. However this may have been, 



92 THE SABBATH SCHOOL TEACHER. 



Effects of remissness. Amendment proposed. 

from his indifferent manner, one scholar after another 
strayed away altogether ; as his class diminished, the 
Superintendent continued to fill it up with new scho- 
lars Sunday after Sunday. The Superintendent soon 
found that he might as well turn the scholars out of 
school, for it amounted to the same thing; and he 
found it necessary to urge upon this teacher the im- 
portance of complying with a rule of the school, 
which made it the duty of the teachers to visit the 
absentees, and report the cause. Indeed the teacher 
soon began to feel ashamed of his reduced class ; per- 
haps he was fearful it might be thought by some that 
he did not possess natural ability to interest and in- 
struct the class ; and he determined that he would 
inquire after the absentees. About the middle of the 
week he found leisure, but then recollected that his 
roll-book was locked up in the school-room ; and by 
the time he found it convenient to see the Superin- 
tendent and obtain a list of the names, it was Satur- 
day afternoon. 

'»' 1i nroved to be an exceedingly unpleasant day, 
hut he was determined to do something before another 
Sabbath ; and off he went with a list of absentees 
sufficient to have formed a large class, with hardly 
time to call upon half the number. 

" He had considerable difficulty to find where many 
lived; some had removed, and one or two had some 
time since tried some other Sunday School, which 
they liked much better. He inquired at one place 



THE SABBATH SCHOOL TEACHER. 93 

Visits to his scholars. The absent scholar. 

for Mr. J., and found no such person. When the 
mother of the boy appeared, he informed her that 
Joseph had not been at the school the last two Sun- 
days. Joseph being there, said he was at school on 
Sunday afternoon week ; and the teacher just recol- 
lected that he himself was absent that afternoon, and 
could not contradict the child; and after saying a 
few words on the importance of regular attendance, 
he went his way. 

" The next house at which he called, he saw the 
father of George, and told him that his son had not 
been to school for a few Sundays past. 

" No," said the father, " he has not been for five 
weeks. Previous to sending him to the Sunday 
School, he stayed in the house and read, or went to 
church with his mother. As we knew much good 
had been received in Sunday Schools, and many of 
our rich neighbors sent their children, we were per- 
suaded to send George, and we had him ready every 
Sunday, and thought that he attended the school 
regularly ; but last Sabbath he came running home, 
followed by a friend of mine, who informed me that 
George spent every Sunday with a crowd of bad boys 
near his house, and they had just broken his parlor 
window. And now, as I cannot be certain that he 
will do any better, I shall keep him in the house." 

"At the next place the teacher knocked very 
gently at the door, for he had lost some confidence in 
himself. He did not knock again, or wait long, for 



94 THE SABBATH SCHOOL TEACHER. 

The dead scholar. 

he had no time to lose ; and perhaps quieted his con- 
science with the thought, " well, I have called, and 
if no one comes, it is not my fault ;" and away he 
went, without ever looking back. 

" We shall only mention one more call which he 
had some difficulty in making, not knowing exactly 
who to ask for. Here he saw the mother of a boy 
who had been in his class ; — introduced himself as the 
Sunday School teacher, and inquired about her son 
James, who had been absent from the class. She 
looked sorrowful, and said she believed " James was 
better off, — she hoped he was in heaven." 

" What ! is James really dead ?" 

" Yes," said his mother, " he died of a fever from 
taking a severe cold one Sunday, in the street : he 
was ill just thirteen days on Thursday week last." 

" When the teacher recollected himself a little, he 
said, " he could not have thought it so long a time 
since James was at school" — -inquired " whether he 
thought he was going to die, and what were his 
views." The mother replied that as he became 
worse, he was very much alarmed at the thought of 
death — talked about the Sunday School, and longed 
to see the teacher he used to have, and wished me 
often to read the Bible to him ; and when he became 
very ill, and near his end, seemed resigned to die. 
We asked him if we should send for you, and he did 
not seem to desire it. He said, " the Sunday School 
teacher we have now has never been here, and may 



THE SABBATH SCHOOL TEACHER. 95 

The result. Obedience necessary. 

be he would not like to come," and then he held up 
his poor, thin arms, and said, " I don't think he 'd 
hardly recollect me, I 've fell away so much." 

" James died without seeing his teacher ; and his 
poor mother entertained the hope that he was happy, 
because — he once loved the Sunday School — was 
desirous of hearing the Bible read, when he could not 
do any thing else, — and appeared willing to die, when 
he found he could not live. This teacher ! — he sel- 
dom thought of James while he lived, but he never 
forgot him when he was dead !" 

I will add here, that a teacher can never obtain 
implicit and unhesitating obedience in his class, un- 
less he is a man punctual in every respect : and to be 
a successful teacher, he must have unyielding disci- 
pline over his scholars. This, if properly obtained, 
will greatly increase the respect, the esteem and 
affection of his class. If a teacher cannot succeed 
in securing the obedience of a scholar, the way is 
hedged up for doing any good to that individual. I 
think the remark is as true with regard to the Sab- 
bath School class, as to the family-circle. Every 
thing goes wrong where children are disobedient and 
undisciplined. The point which the teacher will 
have to urge the hardest, probably will be, the 
habit of punctuality, — in getting the lesson, in reciting 
it, and in being present when the school is opened. 
And let every teacher understand that he can never 



96 THE SABBATH SCHOOL TEACHER. 

Third habit,— self ■improvement. How to obtain it. 

secure this habit to his class, unless he has it in per- 
fection himself. 

3. The third habit which I would mention, is that 
of constantly improving the mind with a view to 
teaching your class. 

One thing which makes all teaching so weari- 
some, is the great effort made at the moment of 
giving instruction to create thought, illustration, and 
materials by which to excite and keep up an interest. 
You may just as well plunge into business, and expect 
to create capital to meet your engagements from 
day to day, as to expect to do this. You must lay 
up materials beforehand, and be in the habit of 
doing so. And here, too, unless I am careful, I shall 
send you off on a wrong track. I do not mean that 
you must sit down and read Rollin's ancient history, 
or the voyages and travels of the day, for the sake 
of finding something by which you may interest your 
class ; but I mean, that when you read a book, — 
when you meet a stranger, when you hear an inter- 
esting conversation, save all that you can. It will 
all be of use in your instructions. Make it an object 
to cultivate your memory ; for without a good memo- 
ry you cannot long be an interesting teacher. Mon- 
taigne could write books on philosophy, and was a 
man of great learning ; but he neglected his memory, 
till he could not call his own servants by name, and 
could remember nothing which was not written down 
in his memorandum-book. Such a man, though he 



THE SABBATH SCHOOL TEACHER. 97 

Memory to be cultivated. Children not to be hurried. Plow lay plans. 

might embody the learning of his age, would never 
be fit to teach a class in the Sabbath School. See 
every thing at which you look ; — hear every thing to 
which you listen ; and, like the bee, have the habit 
of gathering honey, even if it be but little, from 
every flower with which you meet. Every fragment 
of knowledge, every illustration of truth, every de- 
lightful impression which you receive, will aid you as 
a teacher. Aim to improve from week to week in 
your manner of teaching. Do not hurry children 
over the ground faster than they understand every 
thing as they advance. Some will take long steps, 
and expect the child to follow and take steps equally 
long. Some will try new schemes, — find they can- 
not always be original, and soon fall back into the 
old course. Others will find that when the time for 
teaching comes they have no materials on hand, and 
so they resolve, in despair, to resign. Now you should 
neither resign, nor yet plod on in the same old, dull 
way. Make it your business to discover the different 
dispositions of your class, see what their habits are, — 
how they came by their habits, what have been the 
defects in their education, and study by what means 
you can counteract and correct those habits and de- 
fects. This will put your own mind and ingenuity to 
work. The teacher must seek for self-improvement, 
if he would do good in the Sabbath School. There 
are but three thoughts on this subject which I would 
suggest at the present time. 
9 



93 THE SABBATH SCHOOL TEACHER. 



First, — do something every day. Second, — read judiciously. Third, — reflect. 



1. Lay your plans to improve the mind by studying 
a little every day. This portion of time may be 
short, — probably will be — owing to your business; 
but let it be improved. Do not say, ' I will study two 
hours, — or one hour,' — but that you will daily spend 
at least twenty or thirty minutes in the cultivation 
of your mind. Have a particular half-hour selected, 
and do not let any thing shove you over it. Let it 
be the time of day when nothing can cheat you out 
of it. One-fourth part of an hour every day, dili- 
gently and wisely improved in self-cultivation, will 
help a man to grow in wisdom. 

2. Let this season of self-improvement be devoted 
to the most judicious reading. The mind of ages is 
on the pages of books, laid up — and a little digging 
will give you gold. Original thinkers are the minds 
with which you should come in contact. Do not try 
to read much — too many pages, — but make every 
thought your own — so completely your own, that 
you can retain it through life. You will, of course, 
use your influence to have your Sabbath School Li- 
brary contain books of a high order. 

3. Acquire the habit of reflection. Without so 
doing, your observations, your readings, your facts, 
your conversations, will all be useless. Who would 
often go to a store to make purchases, where the goods 
were thrown in, scattered, heaped up, hardware and 
crockery together, oil and linen, muslins and groceries, 
essences and tobacco, — all there indeed, but no one 



THE SABBATH SCHOOL TEACHER. 99 

Close attention necessary. Power of a single remark. 

thing at hand, and no power of saying where the 
thing wanted may be found 1 Make your own mind 
the laboratory into which materials are gathered, 
and where they are analyzed and reduced to their 
proper elements. And do not be discouraged. Cold 
wishes will not discipline your mind ; cold wishes will 
not add to the furniture with which they are adorned ; 
but once acquire the habit of making self-improve- 
ment, and you will shortly be surprised at your ad- 
vancement, — at the ease with which you advance, 
and at the pleasures connected with the process. 
Teachers will complain that they cannot interest 
their scholars; or that the scholars leave them as 
soon as they reach a certain point ; but if they will 
faithfully improve themselves, — acquire the habit of 
doing it, they will not feel these discouragements. 
You can hardly be too careful in cultivating a habit 
of close attention. It is a great thing to be able to 
read the human heart, or in common language, un- 
derstand human nature. This can be obtained only 
by close and careful observation. You will wish to 
create a desire for thorough study, — by which every 
thing may be understood as the child proceeds. How 
can you do it 1 You will wish to create a strong love 
of books, and a desire to read. This will be an im- 
mense blessing to the child. How can you accom- 
plish this ? You will need to know how much good 
or hurt a single exhortation, or even a single word 
may do, if timely or untimely used. An incident in 



100 THE SABBATH SCHOOL TEACHER. 

Mrs. Hemans. The mind dislikes to think. 

the life of Mrs. Hemans will illustrate this point. As 
a child, Mrs. Hemans was an object of admiration, 
and almost devotion, for her extreme beauty ; her 
complexion was remarkably brilliant ; her hair long, 
curling, and golden. Who can tell how little or how 
much impression passing words, carelessly spoken, 
may make upon one so sensitive 1 One lady incau- 
tiously observed in her hearing, " I know that child 
is not made for happiness ; her color comes and 
goes too fast !" She never forgot this remark, and 
would mention it, as having caused her much pain 
at the time it ivas spoken. 

The teacher should understand, and understand it 
well, that there is scarcely any thing so painful to 
the human mind in its undisciplined state, as think- 
ing. To overcome this repugnance, and to teach 
the child so that he will love to think, is perfection 
in the art of teaching. Said a prisoner, in one of 
our new State Prisons, where a chaplain regularly 
preached and taught them from the Bible. — " You 
do not understand it. [He was comparing the old 
prison, which he preferred, to the new.] There, by 
day and night, it was hale fellows, well met; and 
here, the last thing at night is prayer, then retire- 
ment, where we see no one and speak to no one 
during the evening ; then go to bed, but cannot go to 
sleep ; but think, think. If we get to sleep, and 
awake in the night, we see no one, and hear no one, 
but think, think. When morning comes, and we go 



THE SABBATH SCHOOL TEACHER. 101 

Third habit,— patient labor. 

out, the first thing is prayer. We see our fellows, 
but say nothing ; and at night, again, after prayer, 
we go alone, and THINK, THINK." 

3. The third habit to be cultivated is patient 
labor. 

The remark is too trite to be dwelt upon, that 
nothing of value can be obtained in this life, without 
labor. You need, not merely the power to compel 
yourself at times to sit down to patient labor and 
drudgery, but you need the habit, so that it may be 
a thing of course. You need it in the weekly duty 
of improving your mind, and in getting the lesson 
to be taught. You need it when you meet the class 
and endeavor to instruct them. You need patience 
in your intercourse with your fellow- teachers, and in 
the thousand, little, nameless trials and vexations in- 
cident to and inseparable from the duties which 
return upon you every week. You will not be sur- 
prised either, if you find mental labor and patient 
habits of labor somewhat irksome to yourself at 
times ; but every regular return and performance of 
any duty will render it less irksome, till it becomes a 
positive pleasure. The very penances of the dark- 
ened Catholic, we are informed, if regularly per- 
formed, at stated, periodical times, soon become a 
part of the devotee's happiness, and he is lost without 
them. This power of habit is one of the greatest 
aids to good men in all their efforts at self-discipline 
or usefulness. 

9* 



102 THE SABBATH SCHOOL TEACHER. 

Fourth habit,— watclifulness. The Quaker's philosophy. 

4. Cultivate the habit of watchfulness over your- 
self 

We can see many imperfections in others, — even 
a mote in the eye. We should remember that others 
are as quick to see them in us ; and that children, of 
all others, are quick and good judges of character. 
You have not a single habit, good or bad, with which 
your class will long be unacquainted. If you are 
quick and irritable, they will be quick to see it, and 
what is far worse, will be long in losing the bad im- 
pressions which they receive. I can truly say, that 
no impressions of my own childhood remain so vivid 
and so deep, as those received during two winters, 
while under the instructions of an irritable teacher. 
He never struck me, — he never inflicted any pain 
upon my body, and yet I shall carry to the grave 
those deep, unpleasant associations and feelings which 
his irritable temper created. And this will be found 
to be the testimony of not a few. By all means, 
command yourself, and keep the current of your pas- 
sions quiet and even. The Quaker who said that he 
was naturally quick and passionate, but who cured 
himself entirely by always speaking in a low tone, — 
as he who could command the tones of his voice, 
could command his passions, — had not a little of 
genuine philosophy in his theory. You will always 
find that irritable men speak loud ; and on the con- 
trary, when you hear a man who is a loud talker, 
you instinctively associate his voice with a quick and 



THE SABBATH SCHOOL TEACHER. 103 



Gravity necessary. Must not show partiality. 

passionate disposition. Your own character will com- 
municate itself to your class. If you are light and 
trifling, they will be so ; if you are talkative, they 
will talk much and think little ; if you are irregular, 
they will be ; if you forget your promises, they will 
forget theirs. 

You should watch over yourself also, because your 
usefulness depends upon the opinion which children 
entertain of you. They cannot respect a man who 
is wanting in a proper degree of gravity ; who is not 
far above them in knowledge in general, and in a 
knowledge of the lesson in particular; and who is 
not consistent and exemplary in all his deportment. 
Never forget that you meet the children on the Sab- 
bath, and that yours is the work peculiar to that 
sacred day. Let all your influence be hallowed. 
The eyes of the school are all upon you ; and not 
only your own class, but the whole school, watch and 
weigh your character; and you aid in giving a 
coloring to the whole school. The parents of the 
children too, are watching you, — some praying for 
you, — that you may be able to lead their beloved 
child to God and to holiness ; others looking to see if 
there be really any thing in religion above a mere 
form. Of this they judge partly by seeing you, and 
still more by seeing the character which you are 
giving to their child. You will have some children 
more amiable than others ; watch yourself that you 
do not feel, and still more, that you do not show par- 



104 THE SABBATH SCHOOL TEACHER. 

Fifth habit,— prayer. 

tiality. This is a delicate part of your duty. It is 
absolutely impossible to love all alike ; but it is a 
duty not to show partiality in your class. This 
watchfulness will do more for you than to aid you in 
teaching and influencing your class. It will help you 
to be a more perfect Christian, — it will make you 
every way more happy. No teacher should live 
without self-examination, and that, too, at stated 
times. At the best, this is a season none too plea- 
sant ; but if you can review the Sabbath, and sec that 
you have had circumspection, and watchfulness over 
yourself, and have set a guard around your conduct 
and character, as a Sunday School teacher, you will 
find that even the hour of self-examination is pleasant. 
It is always delightful to feel that we are making 
progress in self-discipline. 

5. The habit of prayer. 

No language can adequately describe the effects 
of converting one sinner to God, — the effects exhibited 
in time and in eternity. And the teacher should 
have nothing lower as his standard than to see every 
child committed to him converted to God, and trained 
up to be a devoted Christian. Do you go to your 
class with less interest than you go to your worldly 
business 1 Do you hear the lessons as a task ? You 
may be sure your heart is not in the work ; and you 
do not pray over it. Do you feel cold or indifferent 
towards the school, or towards any particular pupil 
in your class ? If so, you do not pray for that school 



THE SABBATH SCHOOL TEACHER. 105 



Example of a school. 



or that scholar. You cannot pray for a child without 
feeling a deep interest in his welfare. Do you labor 
year after year, without seeing your scholars convert- 
ed to God 1 The reason is probably to be found in 
your want of prayer. Notice the following curious 
fact. ' A writer says that he witnessed a revival in a 
Sabbath School of which he was once a member. It 
was principally confined to those between the ages 
of seven, and twenty. A large number professed an 
interest in Christ. But all were of one sex, all were 
girls. Although some of the boys were considerably 
impressed, yet not a single individual of them was 
known to have been converted. One after another 
of the little girls gave her heart to the Redeemer, — 
while the boys, members of the same families, — their 
brothers, lived on in sin, the enemies of God. What 
does this mean ? How is this to be accounted for 1 
Does not the following fact explain the mystery? 
The teachers of the little girls came apparently from 
their closets, from the very presence, the audience- 
chamber of the Most High. Their hearts seemed 
glowing with love for their Savior, burdened with a 
sense of the worth of the soul, and the immense re- 
sponsibility which rested upon them. They warned 
and entreated their scholars on the Sabbath, and re- 
peated their instructions during the week. A rich 
blessing followed, — a blessing proportioned to the 
fidelity of the teachers.'' 

No one can discipline his own heart, and grow in 



106 THE SABBATH SCHOOL TEACHER. 



Power over temptation by this habit. Heart not be engaged without prayer. 



Christian character, without prayer. No one can ac- 
complish any thing, either good or great, without it. 
You should he a man of prayer for yourself, your 
class, the school, and for the world. You will he in 
no danger of over-estimating the effects of the habit 
of daily prayer upon your own character. I look at 
it not merely as a means of drawing down blessings 
upon your labors, but as a thing of inestimable value 
to yourself. Seasons of temptation, — of luke-warm- 
ness, — of backsliding, will come, — the love of many 
will wax cold, — the light within your own heart will 
burn dim, — and nothing but the habit of daily prayer 
will make you safe. Peter, probably, had not been in 
the habit of prayer before his conversion. His habits 
were not fixed, and therefore, in the hour of tempta- 
tion, he sinned ; — while Daniel, who, for many years, 
even from his youth, had been a man of prayer, and 
had formed habits of prayer, withstood temptations 
incomparably greater than those which overwhelmed 
Peter. 

Let it be most distinctly impressed on the mind, 
that we never accomplish any thing in religion in 
which the heart is not deeply engaged ; and the 
heart is never engaged, when the closet is neglected. 
A teacher never can enjoy teaching, or do good to 
his class, who is not habitually at the throne of grace 
at stated periods. The following is invariably the 
result of the labors of a prayerless teacher. A visiter 
was sent out to call upon the families represented in 



THE SABBATH SCHOOL TEACHER. 107 

Dialogue with a scholar. How to cure such evils. 

the. school. In the course of his calls, the following 
conversation took place between him and a little girl. 

" Do you attend Sunday School V 

" Yes, Sir." 

" How are you pleased with the school V 9 

" Not so well as I have been." 

"What is the matter?" 

" I have a new teacher, and I do not like her so 
well as my old teacher." 

" You will probably become better satisfied after 
you have become better acquainted with the method 
of your teacher's instructions." 

" I do not believe I shall ever love my new teacher 
so well as I did my old one." 

" Perhaps the fault is in you." 

" Perhaps so ; — but I cannot love her so well as I 
did the old one." 

" What can be the cause of this difference in your 
feelings V 9 

" My former teacher took a great deal of interest 
in me ; and while hearing me recite, took great pains 
to explain every thing in my lesson, so that I could 
understand it; and after the lesson was ended, she 
spent the time in reading something to the class 
which is useful, or in telling us how we ought to live. 
But my present teacher just hears my lesson, appears 
distant, seems to have but little interest in the class, 
and as soon as the lesson is closed, she leaves the class 
for another part of the house." 



108 THE SABBATH SCHOOL TEACHER. 

Third requisite,— htimility. Tests of humility. 

Such cases as the above would occur but seldom, 
if our teachers were habituated to prayer from day 
to day, and always remembered their class in their 
prayers. 

I return from the habits of the teacher, to consider 
briefly the remaining qualifications which do not 
come under the general head of habits. 

3. Humility is a most desirable qualification in a 
teacher. 

The teacher has to deal with the heart ; and that 
is so universally and naturally proud, that it does not 
love to admit any advances but those of hu- 
mility. The humble man can always have access to 
any man's heart ; while the proud or vain man is 
uniformly shut out. In the business of teaching in 
the Sabbath School, you will need not merely the 
appearance of humility, but the thing itself, if you 
would feel happy. Without this grace, you will be 
in danger of feeling that the Superintendent or the 
teachers do not do right, — they usurp authority, or 
they violate rights, or they misuse you ; that you do 
not have your proper place, — the class you have is 
one of the lowest, poorest in the school, — perhaps the 
most uninteresting of all. Why should that class be 
given to you 1 Another teacher is more popular, more 
noticed, more thought of than you, and pride tells 
you that you are almost a martyr to injustice. If 
you are constantly thinking of yourself, wanting 
praise, unhappy without it, talking about yourself, — 



THE SABBATH SCHOOL TEACHER. 109 

Jeremy Taylor. 

giving hints of your own estimable qualities ; if you 
use stratagems to obtain praise, such as inquiring 
about your faults in order to learn your excellencies, 
— if you find yourself constantly consoling yourself 
with the thought that you are not appreciated, and 
that you are of more consequence than others seem 
to think you are ; — if you are pained when others 
receive praise in your presence, and feel disposed to 
detract from their merits, perhaps by speaking dis- 
paragingly of them ; if you find yourself comparing 
yourself with others greatly to your own advantage, 
if you feel ready to excuse every fault in yourself, to 
palliate and defend, — you lack that humility which 
is essential to the comfort, the happiness, and the 
usefulness, of the Sabbath School teacher. Let the 
sentiment so beautifully and quaintly expressed by 
Taylor be engraven on the memory ; — " Give 
God thanks for every weakness, deformity, and im- 
perfection, and accept it as a favor and grace of 
God, and an instrument to resist pride and nurse hu- 
mility ; ever remembering, that when God, by giving 
thee a crooked back, hath also made thy spirit stoop, 
or less vain, thou art more ready to enter the narrow 
gate of heaven, than by being straight, and standing 
upright, and thinking highly. Thus the Apostles 
rejoiced in infirmities, not moral, but natural and ac- 
cidental, in their being beaten and whipt like slaves, 
in their nakedness and poverty." 
10 



110 THE SABBATH SCHOOL TEACHER. 

Fourth requisite,— benevolence to men. 

4. Benevolence to the souls of men is an indispen 
sable requisite to a good Sabbath School teacher. 

No one who has not made the trial can know how 
many little trials and vexations attend the faithful 
teacher. He meets with ignorance and stupidity, de- 
plorable, and apparently incurable ; with habits per- 
verse and corrupt, which have been woven into all 
the education of the children ; — with dispositions 
which seem to have no right side ; and yet he must 
love these children, or he can do them no good. He 
must love them all, for however unlovely and un- 
amiable the child may be, he will never let the 
teacher do him any good, till he is sure that he loves 
him. You must not consider that class as some do, a 
company but little better than apes, whose mischiev- 
ous pranks are to be the source of constant misery 
and vexation. You must have the confidence and the 
affection of your class, or you can do them no good. 
In order to this, you must have an unquenchable love 
for the souls of men, — a love like that of Christ, 
which many waters cannot quench, nor floods drown. 
This will lead you to overlook the many little vexa- 
tions which beset you ; just as a man who is bent on 
reducing and subduing his farm, for the sake of the 
gains hereafter to be received, learns to forget the 
trees, the stones, the roots, and the brush which have 
to be removed before he can effect the object at 
which he aims. This love to the souls of men will 
render you elastic, and yet firm in your labors, easy 



THE SABBATH SCHOOL TEACHER. Ill 

Benevolence should bo warm. Contracted feeling natural. 

of access to your scholars, and ready to communicate 
information and hints to your fellow teachers, or to 
receive it from them. Every hint you will receive 
with gratitude; and every ray of light which you 
receive, you will reflect upon the path in which your 
class are walking, that thereby they may be led to 
heaven. Any man who is not warmly affected to the 
souls of men should not be a teacher. You should 
have so much of this interest that you are led to the 
duties of your station by the bent of your own in- 
clinations. The zeal should be a true zeal to labor 
for Jesus Christ, — the oil that feeds the flame should 
be of heavenly origin, and not the result of an ardent 
temperament, or a splendid imagination. Your piety 
should be constant as well as burning. You should 
know that you are capable of great self-denial, and 
can be regular in all your habits. You need not 
possess " the razor's edge, but must have the blade 
of a well-tempered knife." Divest your character 
of all sloth, effeminacy, and indulgence. 

We are too apt to feel that the object of life is to 
move in our own little circle, enjoy the full cup of 
mercies which God bestows, and to creep into heaven 
at last, — a kind of selfishness which has no example, 
and no parallel in the lives of Christ and his Apos- 
tles, and no countenance in the Bible. We look for- 
ward to the millennial day, — believing in the explicit 
language of prophecy, that ' truth and mercy, the 
peace and righteousness of our Messiah's kingdom, 



112 THE SABBATH SCHOOL TEACHER. 

What the Christian should be. The teacher should have noble viewa. 

whatever temporary checks they may suffer, shall, in 
the end, overcome all opposition; and though the 
river of God may, for a time, he discolored and pol- 
luted, hy the pernicious soil over which it rolls its 
tide, yet it shall, at last, free itself from every foreign 
mixture, and send forth its ten thousand pure streams, 
to gladden all the nations of the earth.' Such is our 
belief; hut so far from feeling that we have individ- 
ually a part to bear in the great work, we lay our 
head on the pillow of down, and feel it hard that 
any one should even knock at our door and ask for 
bread. We want our missionaries to take their lives 
in their hands, and go and wear down and die among 
the heathen ; we want our ministers to be in season 
and out of season, — to labor in the study, and bring 
no oil into the sanctuary which has not been beaten, 
while we lay out work enough for them out of the 
pulpit to consume all their time and strength ; but 
when we come to act for the souls of the young, and 
for the conversion of the world in the Sabbath School, 
we are apt to feel that a frozen heart, a dead piety, 
narrow views and stinted labor, will do. It is not so. 
I know the field is comparatively a humble one, and 
that ambition would not go there, — for the crown 
which she seeks is not there. You may not be able 
to train up an Apostle ; but you may prevent one 
from becoming a Judas. Had Mahomet, when a 
child, been placed under the care of a faithful devo- 
ted Sabbath School teacher, who can believe he 



THE SABBATH SCHOOL TEACHER. 113 

Conclusion. 

would ever have been what he did become ? The 
fact is, in the kingdom of Christ, great learning is 
not demanded, great and striking and splendid 
talents are not necessary, in order to be useful, to 
bring souls to Christ, and to win the crown of life, 
but holy, devoted, disinterested piety is the great 
thing needed. This will bring wisdom from above ; 
this will overcome difficulties, bear up under dis- 
couragements, enable us to see the fruit of our labors 
here, and to anticipate their reward hereafter. Let 
me invite you, as we close this chapter, to unite with 
me in the beautiful prayer of a glowing heart. " And 
thou, Lord Jesus, afflicted Father of the Christian 
name, blessed Martyr of humanity, blameless Pattern, 
universal Priest, unerring Teacher, omnipotent King 
of truth, of righteousness, and of peace, deign from 
thy glorious throne to smile on this weak attempt, 
and to accept this poor offering ! It is a tribute, for 
the life thou hast given, for the blood thou hast shed, 
and for the joyous hopes thou hast inspired, to cheer, 
and to direct our mortal pilgrimage. Meek Spring 
of heavenly Wisdom, — boundless Ocean of universal, 
ardent, unprovoked, and undiscouraged charity, pour 
thy Spirit into my breast, and into the breasts of all 
thy servants whom I here address. Teach them to 
interest themselves in this blessed work, as becomes 
men, who are distinguished by thy venerable name, 
and honored by the ministration of thy glorious Gos- 
pel ! Baptize us all with the fire of that love which 
10* 



114 THE SABBATH SCHOOL TEACHER. 

Beautiful prayer. 

is stronger than death ! Delightfully oppress our gra- 
titude with the everlasting mountains of thy benefits, 
until every sentiment of frail mortality be suppressed, 
— until faith give us the victory over the world, — 
over life and death, — until love compel us to exclaim, 
Yea, doubtless, and I count all things but dross that 
I may win Christ ; and I am willing not only to 
suffer bonds, but to die for the sake of my Lord Jesus 
Christ, by whom I am crucified unto the world and 
the world unto me." 



CHAPTER IV. 



OTHER MEANS OF DOING GOOD BESIDES TEACHING. 

It is no dim mark of the wisdom of God, that 
since he has planted in the human soul a love of 
variety and a desire of change, — the present never 
satisfying the heart, — he has made abundant provis- 
ion in all the departments of life to meet these wants. 
The employments of life, so wearing upon the spirit, 
must be checked and broken up every day by sleep. 
— the cares of life must be laid aside for food and to 
supply the wants of the body ; — the change of sea- 
sons must change the employments, and, in some mea- 
sure, the dress of every family. From childhood to 
the grave, provision is made for us to pass through 
changes almost infinite. The farmer, whose employ- 
ment is more necessary to the sustenance of the 
world than any other, would find it drudgery, and 
life itself a dreary, prolonged misery, were it not for 
the constant changes in his business. As it is, this 
constant change, the new objects continually coming 

115 



116 THE SABBATH SCHOOL TEACHER. 

God has provided variety for man. Factories. Useful to ministers. 

up. render his employment one of the most delightful 
and bewitching possible ; and I doubt not that Wash- 
ington had more happiness and saw more charms in 
life while making his experiments, inventing his 
tools, and managing his farms, than while he occu- 
pied the chair of state, the admiration of his country 
and of the world. This variety, incident and neces- 
sary to every kind of business, ought to be regarded 
as one of those decided marks of the wisdom and 
goodness of God, which he has devised to keep the 
mind from being too weary, and the habits of the 
soul from becoming monotonous, and itself torpid. Is 
it not an admitted fact, that when a man does but 
one thing, — such, for example, as grinding the glasses 
for the lens of a telescope, from sun to sun, and from 
year to year, from childhood to old age, that such a 
man is not cheerful, intelligent, or in our sense of the 
word, happy ? All elasticity of the soul is naturally 
destroyed by monotonous labor. The more laborious 
and responsible the duties and station, so much 
greater is the need of variety to relieve the mind and 
feelings. A minister of the Gospel would wear out 
shortly, were it not that God has connected variety 
with his office. Were he to write all the time, he 
would become exhausted and nervous. Were he to 
speak all the time, he would either destroy the mind 
by keeping it keyed up too high, or become insuffer- 
ably dull. Were he to visit all the time, his mind 
would be too undisciplined to allow him to be even a 



THE SABBATH SCHOOL TEACHER. 117 

Useful to the Sabbath School teacher. First means of doing good, — visiting. 

tolerable preacher. It is from the fact that these 
various duties are connected so as to relieve tedium, 
and to call different powers and sympathies into exer- 
cise, that the pastoral office perfects the character 
of a minister, making all parts more symmetrical and 
well-proportioned, than any other station in the 
ministry. 

These remarks apply in their full force to the du- 
ties of the Sabbath School teacher. His great duty 
is to instruct his class, but collateral with this, there 
are other duties equally necessary, and equally im- 
portant to render his character complete, and the 
sphere of his usefulness full. They will add equally 
to his happiness and usefulness. I propose, then, in 
this chapter, to mention some of the collateral means 
of doing good, which the teacher has in his power. 

1. A regular system of visiting the families to 
which the scholars in your class severally belong. 

You have seen friends become cold, distant, and 
finally break away, and never again become recon- 
ciled to each other. You have seen husband and 
wife change, revile and hate each other, separate, 
while every year only seemed to render their enmity 
more intense. The link once broken between hus- 
band and wife can seldom be mended. But you do 
not often see children and parents becoming enemies. 
Let the child be deformed and diseased, and it does 
not w T ean him from the love of his parents ; let him 
become an idiot, and their love will not change ; let 



118 THE SABBATH SCHOOL TEACHER. 

A powerful principle brought into exercise. Trust committed to the teacher. 

him become vile, and they will throw the mantle of 
charity over him, and still encircle him in the bright- 
ness of hope ; let him leave his home and herd with 
the vile, and throw away all that is lovely or valua- 
ble, and they w T ill still cling to him. And even when 
he is so degraded that he feeds with the swine in the 
field, on the first appearance of his return, how- 
ever poor and wretched, the father sees him afar off, 
and runs to meet him,— to fall on his neck, and to call 
him his son. It is hardly possible to wear out or to 
annihilate this heaven-planted love between parent 
and child. And it is the existence of this love which 
gives the Sabbath School teacher such power. In 
committing his children to you, the father commits 
his highest hopes, — the mother her richest treasure. 
It is like a deed by which they commit their all to 
you. Does not the Apostle recognize this principle, 
and appeal to it, when he says, that God, who spared 
not his only-begotten Son, will with him freely give 
us all things ? By having the children put into your 
hands, you have a means of doing good to those pa- 
rents and to their family, unspeakably great. You 
wish to know the influences, under which, this and that 
child has thus far been placed. A visit to his parents 
will help you to understand them. You wish to have 
this and that trait of character corrected. The 
parents either do not see the faults, or know not how 
to correct them. A few hints from you may aid them 
greatly. Perhaps the family are not in the habit of 



THE SABBATH SCHOOL TEACHER. 119 

Usefulness of visits. Illustrated by a physician. 

going to the house of God. You may, by a careful 
use of your influence, lead them there. They may 
have notions and impressions concerning your school, 
or concerning religion, which counteract all that you 
can do on the Sabbath. A few visits may remove 
all these impressions. They may be bringing up their 
children in idleness, ignorance, and sin: and your 
counsels may alter the whole course of conduct in 
this respect. You can see their condition, and shortly, 
can place in their hands a tract, or something of the 
kind, which will exactly meet the evil which you 
wish to correct. Knowing the habits of the family, 
you can aid the child in selecting such books as will 
be useful at home, and encourage him to read, or to 
have them read at home. If you can once gain the 
confidence of the child, the way is open, and it will 
be easy to gain the confidence of the parents ; and 
when that is gained, it will add to your former influ- 
ence over the child. A physician once said to me, 
that he had a patient in whose cure he could make 
no progress. Every visit found him in a new condi- 
tion, and with new symptoms. Every medicine pre- 
scribed seem to work by a new and unheard-of rule. 
At length the physician set himself to work to find 
out the difficulty. It was this: the mother of the 
patient took it into her head that the prescriptions 
of the physician were too powerful for the constitu- 
tion of her child, and in order to counteract their 
mischievous tendency, she gave some powerful nos- 



120 THE SABBATH SCHOOL TEACHER. 

Visiting should be done regularly. A caution. 

tram soon after taking the medicine, as an antidote. 
It is just so with many children. Their parents are 
constantly neutralizing all that you do on the Sab- 
bath. This evil can be met and removed only by 
your visiting the family. I would recommend that 
you visit regularly once a month, every child in your 
class, — even if your call is but short. It should make 
no difference with you whether the parents are rich 
or poor, — high or low. All who are willing to com- 
mit their children to you will be glad to see you, 
and will be grateful for the interest you take in 
the welfare of their children. In addition to this, 
you ought to call upon every child who is absent, 
before the Sabbath following. The child may be 
sick, and in that case he will be glad to see you. 
He may have fallen into bad company, and in that 
case you ought at once to see him. He may have 
deceived his parents, and in that case they ought to 
know it. I have never known other than a good 
school, where the rule was invariably practised, 
that every child who is absent from the school, shall 
be visited during the following week. I cannot too 
strenuously urge its importance. But be careful not 
to have these calls to inquire after delinquencies, seem 
like duns, as a creditor calls upon a debtor, when the 
visit is disagreeable to both parties. Let there be so 
much of heart in all your intercourse with parents, 
that they shall see that you seek only the real wel- 
fare of their child. If possible, always have some- 



THE SABBATH SCHOOL TEACHER. 121 

Plea of not having time,— considered. Get the good-will of the family. 

thing on your mind interesting to communicate, and 
let all your conversation, if practicable, be in the 
presence of the children. After one or two visits, 
you will never feel at a loss how to make your visit 
interesting. For the convenience of these visits, the 
Superintendent ought to have regard to the propriety 
of having the same class dwell in the same part of 
the parish, as nearly as possible. 

Unless you are really conscientious in all that you 
do, you will be in danger of neglecting this system 
of visiting under the plea that you have not time. In 
nine cases out of ten, this plea will not be received 
by the Great Head of the church. A Superintend- 
ent, speaking of his school, says, " visiting, in many 
instances, is faithfully attended to ; but in a few in- 
stances, almost entirely neglected. One teacher, who 
is an apprentice, and has to labor till nine o'clock 
every evening, manages to visit nine scholars a week, 
— while others, who are not half so much confined, 
plead that they have no time to do so. Need I say 
he has a full and interesting class 1 Oh ! that there 
were more whose hearts were as much in the w T ork ! 
We should no longer hear of empty seats and droop- 
ing schools." Were all our teachers equally prompt 
and faithful, what a spectacle would our schools pre- 
sent ! But does each, on an average, afibrd one such 
teacher 1 

On making these visits, the first thing desirable, is 
to get the good- will of the parents. This you will 
11 



122 THE SABBATH SCHOOL TEACHER. 



Invite parents into the school. Admirable features. 

invariably do, if you are kind and courteous, if you 
are mild, and above all, if you are sincere, and with- 
out guile. In these visits, from time to time, you will 
give such hints as will aid the parents in co-operating 
with you for the good of their child. I would respect- 
fully, but earnestly urge the parents to visit the 
school. If you can get them to come and see the 
school once in three or four months, you will find that 
such visits will increase their interest in the school 
more than any thing else which you can do. They 
will see the system, — see the children happy, — see 
all the teachers interested and laboring for their good. 
It will do the children good ; for every child loves the 
approbation of his parents, and their manifestation of 
interest in his welfare will ever stimulate him to 
greater effort. The highest motive which a child can 
have, before his heart is renewed by the Spirit of 
God, to do well, is the approbation of his parents. 
Some of those parents whom you thus invite to see 
the school, are praying people ; and they will pray 
more fervently for you in consequence of every such 
visit ; some of them have never attended to the sub- 
ject of religion, and they will here see it in active 
operation. The teachers, the scholars, the parents, 
will all be benefited by such visits of the parents. 
One of the most admirable features in the Sabbath 
School system is, that it gives the teacher such super- 
vision over the moral education of each scholar ; and 
through the child, opens such a wide field for influence 



THE SABBATH SCHOOL TEACHER. 123 



Second means of doing good, — Library. First use of the Library. 

upon the family in which the child lives. Let no 
pressure of business, no calls of pleasure, no plead- 
ings for ease, lead you to neglect this most important 
part of your duties and privileges. 

2. Making a proper use of the Library. 

There seem to me to be three points in regard to 
the Library of a Sabbath School, which ought briefly 
to be noticed : viz. its necessity, — materials of which 
it is composed, — and the best method of using it. 
Upon each of these points I feel bound to say a few 
words. 

1. The necessity of a Library. 

Sabbath Schools have been established without 
Libraries, and by proper effort, may do good; but 
they soon drag heavily, and droop. Others have very 
poor Libraries, and the teachers cannot see the need 
of having them made good and complete. Let me 
tell you what a good Library, properly managed, w T ill 
generally do. 

(a.) It will create a taste for reading. 

You go into some families, and the parents will tell 
you that their children " do not love books, — do not 
take to books, — or do not take to learning :" in other 
words, their children have no taste for books. The 
parents think it is a kind of destiny. Their children 
are doomed to be comparatively ignorant, while some 
families which they can name, are growing up fond 
of books. Now all the destiny there is about this, is, 
that the children do not have suitable books. Any 



124 THE SABBATH SCHOOL TEACHER. 



Creates a taste for reading. Second use,— supplies the destitute. 

child and every child will love books, if you will put 
suitable books into its hands before it leaves the cra- 
dle. But many families have no such books, — feel as 
if it was money thrown away to buy them. The 
child sees nothing but the big Bible, perhaps a volume 
of Sermons, an old Geography, or a few Newspapers, 
— these constitute the library of the house, and is it 
any wonder that there is no taste for reading '( Any 
wonder that every association connected with a book, 
is gloomy, and almost painful ? Now the Library of 
the Sabbath School meets this very difficulty; — it 
furnishes reading suited to the child's capacity, — 
deepens the impression by cuts and pictures, — and 
creates, gradually, in him, a confidence that even he 
can master the contents of a book ; and when this is 
once done, the child has acquired a taste for reading. 
This acquisition, I hardly need say, will be a treasure 
to him. The happiness, the respectability, and I had 
almost said, the salvation of a child, are near being 
insured, when once he has acquired a decided taste 
for reading. Every Library should be selected with 
this in view. 

(b.) It will supply those with books who otherwise 
would never have them. 

I speak not of those destitute parts of the world, 
such as new settlements, and nations emerging from 
heathenism, where a book is a rarity ; — but of our 
most favored portions of country. Every parish and 
every school will contain families too poor, or too 



THE SABBATH SCHOOL TEACHER. 125 

Third use,— occupies vacant hours. Fourth use,— creates and develops genius. 

ignorant, or too parsimonious, to procure books for 
their children. Thousands and thousands are now- 
reading the books of the Sabbath School, who would 
otherwise be entirely destitute. A Library owned by 
a Sabbath School, answers almost as good a purpose 
as having each family own it ; — and in cases where 
filth and ignorance prevail, even better. It carries 
light to all, — quenches the thirst of all, and goes 
where nothing else can go. 

(c.) A Library occupies the vacant hours of chil- 
dren. 

I have already said so much on the importance of 
habits, that I am almost afraid to use the word again ; 
and yet when the question comes, what shall be done 
with the leisure moments, and fragments of time, 
which the children of every family have, I cannot 
but again allude to it, and say that the habit of read- 
ing during this leisure is unspeakably important. 
Put suitable books, attractive books, into the hands 
of children, and they will, insensibly to themselves, 
form the habit of occupying these seasons with read- 
ing. These habits will abide through life, and will 
be an increasing blessing. 

(d.) A Library will create taste and draw out 
genius. 

All who remember their childhood, — and who does 

not remember it \ — can look back and see that this 

or that bias was given to their character, — this and 

that lasting impression was made by such and such 

11* 



126 THE SABBATH SCHOOL TEACHER. 

Fifth use,— elevates intercourse of parents and children. 

books which they read. A few years ago, and the 
reading for children was of the most preposterous 
kind, the most unreal scenes, the most foolish stories, 
the most frightful inventions were the companions of 
the nursery. These made impressions which lasted 
through life. Thanks be to God, this rubbish and 
trash is passing away. Minds of the first order are 
now engaged in preparing books for the young. 
Genius feels honored, in being allowed to cater for 
the mind, destined to be immortal, when it com- 
mences its existence. And though we have accounts 
of ministers, and missionaries who have been raised 
up in the Sabbath School, yet I do not believe these 
are all who have become great and good by means 
of this institution. And I believe there are minds 
forming there, and taste creating there, and genius 
growing there, which will hereafter wield the pen, 
and pour out the thought which will affect the earth. 
It is not to be a long time before the taste, the litera- 
ture, and the genius of the earth, will be, to a great 
degree, nurtured in the Sabbath School. The Li- 
braries will help to do the work. 

(e.) Jl Library will refine and elevate the inter- 
course between parents and children, and between 
the children themselves. 

Much that is foolish, and much that is vulgar, in 
the intercourse between families, and between chil- 
dren, arises from the vacuity of the mind. They 
have no ideas — nothing to talk about. Not so when 



THE SABBATH SCHOOL TEACHER. 127 



Will carry reproofs where needed. Sixth use,— attach scholars to the school. 



that family have access to a Library, and once 
acquire the habit of reading. The conversation 
among children is soon perceived to be more refined ; 
the intercourse between the parents and the children 
is gradually softened, more gentle, and more amiable. 
There is a tendency in books to refine and soften 
character, which is irresistible. A vulgar man, either 
in words or in thoughts, cannot be a man who reads. 
How many hints will parents receive from these 
books which they will gradually incorporate into their 
system of family management! how many rebukes 
will they receive, without the mortification usually 
connected with reproofs ! — how many impressions 
will they receive, which will gradually but certainly 
modify their character ! And how many impressions 
— for it must be remembered that it is impressions 
which form the character of children, — will children 
receive from these books, which will make them more 
kind and dutiful at home — more docile and modest 
abroad — more free from that boisterous impudence 
which is so common an attendant upon a bad educa- 
tion ! Every family-circle into which the books of the 
Sabbath School Library are admitted, will be soft- 
ened and refined. Of this, from what I have seen, I 
have not a doubt. 

(f.) The Library will attach the scholai^s to the 
school. 

Every human mind wants something towards which 
it can look forward. If the child has nothing else to 



128 THE SABBATH SCHOOL TEACHER. 



Seventh use,— reach where nothing else can. 



do, but to go and recite his lesson and hear the re- 
marks of his teacher, he will soon become weary. 
But he looks forward. At the close of the next Sab- 
bath, he will receive a new book. It is his property 
— entrusted solely to him for a whole fortnight. The 
trust is pleasant. The prospect of pleasure to be 
derived from reading is cheering ; the curiosity 
awakened as to the book which he will receive, is a 
stimulus. But in addition to this, he knows that his 
parents are delighted with the books, — his home is 
rendered more pleasant, — new books will be added 
every year, and shortly, he will have a larger book, 
and then a larger, till he has read them all, and is 
master of all they contain. These pleasures, these 
hopes, this stimulus, will hold the child to the Sab- 
bath School, year after year, till the great design 
of the system has been realized in his case. 

(g.) The Library will do good where nothing else 
can. 

You know of a family in which profaneness, for 
example, is indulged ; you cannot yourself reprove it 
successfully; you cannot send the tract which will 
meet the case. Suspicion would awake. But you 
can aid the child to select, and encourage him to read 
aloud at home, the book which will be a mirror in 
which that family may see their likeness. So of in- 
temperance, or of any other known sin. There are 
books prepared to meet all these cases ; and they are 
generally so well aimed that they will hit the game. 



THE SABBATH SCHOOL TEACHER. 129 



The sling and stone. Eighth use,— converting and saving the soul. 



Many a family have been drawn to the house of 
God, and have become permanent worshippers in 
consequence of the arrows which they received from 
these books. The child with the sling and the stone 
from the brook, has been made to do what a sword 
could not. The heart arrays itself, whenever you 
reprove it, — the pride rises up whenever you try to 
persuade men to do directly the contrary to what 
they are doing ; but when the pages of a little book 
speak, this pride and vanity are not aroused. The 
conscience can awake and speak, because the pas- 
sions do not raise their stormy voice and drown her 
admonitions. 

(h.) The Library is a powerful means of convert- 
ing the soul, and building it up in holiness. 

There are, probably, but few families which do 
not contain more or less, who have no evidence of 
having passed from death unto life ; and there are 
few families in which the books of the Sabbath 
School Library are not read. By this means, old 
and deep impressions have frequently been revived ; 
— new convictions have been awakened — new fears 
created, till the soul has arisen, like the prodigal, and 
gone to its Father for bread. If these books do not 
directly lead the soul to God, they frequently do it 
by leading to the house of God, or to a conversation 
with some faithful friend, such as the teacher, or to 
the word of God and prayer, till it is finally brought 
into the fold of Christ. I suppose half a volume 



130 THE SABBATH SCHOOL TEACHER. 



The widowed mother. Materials of which the Library is composed. 

might now be written, containing authentic accounts 
of the good done to the souls of men, by means of 
libraries, and doubtless the day of Judgment will 
reveal thousands more. But in the waste places of 
Zion, where the sound of the " church-going hell" is 
never heard, how has the aching heart of the 
widowed mother been made to rejoice, when her 
smiling boy returned through the little foot-path of 
the forest from the distant school, bringing the book 
which some sanctified, gifted mind has penned, and 
which will aid her in growing in holiness, and in 
guiding her babes to the Lamb of God ! Her child 
shall receive impressions from these books, which will 
make him a staff and a comfort in the evening of 
her days, — and. these books will leave impressions 
on the minds of all the family which will abide 
forever. 

These, in short, are some of the most obvious 
benefits of the Sabbath School Library, which, in 
my view, render it absolutely indispensable to the 
success of the school. Of course, the more complete 
and perfect it is, the better it is adapted to the ends 
contemplated. 

I proceed — 

2. To speak of the selection, or the materials of 
which the Library should be composed. 

Great care should be exercised in the selection of 
a Library ; for a book, like a companion, may make 
deep impressions on the child, and give him a bias 



THE SABBATH SCHOOL TEACHER. 131 

Care necessary. Patronage of a Judge. First hint, — Library to be increased. 

which can never be changed. Formerly it was very- 
difficult to get books, which, to any great extent an- 
swered the purposes of a Juvenile Library, and men 
frequently undertook the selection who were wholly 
ignorant of their duties. I once knew a Judge, who, on 
being elected to the presidency of a Sabbath School 
Society, and feeling that his station required him to be 
a kind of patron, actually purchased and presented to 
the school some dozen or two of Cummings's largest 
Geography, as the foundation of the Library. Books 
are now so multiplied, that the greatest difficulty 
seems to be, to make the best selection. Some are 
almost destitute of character ; others are too indefin- 
ite; and others still, are above the comprehension 
of children. Two or three hints seem desirable here. 

(a.) A Library should be steadily increased. 

This is usually done once every year ; and it ought 
to be done by the subscription or contribution of the 
whole congregation with which the school is con- 
nected. Great pains should be taken to give every 
family an opportunity to contribute, — and for these 
reasons, — first, the larger the increase the more val- 
uable will the Library become, and the greater will 
be its good influence upon the school, and upon the 
whole community. All are partakers of its benefits, 
and all should be urged to aid in its increase ; second, 
the teachers are much encouraged and aided by an 
increase of good books. They are almost sure to 
find some book which will encourage and benefit 



132 THE SABBATH SCHOOL TEACHER 



Who should bear the expenses. Second hint, — old books not uninteresting. 

them ; and thirdly, in proportion as a congregation 
contribute for the library, in that proportion will 
they take an interest in the books, will read them, 
will be careful to see that their children are regu- 
larly at school, in order to draw out books. At the 
return of every year, be sure, then, to make as large 
a collection as possible to add to the Library. Get 
the new books as they are published, keep up with 
the times, and the school will feel the effects of the 
measure. Do not be afraid of asking the church and 
congregation for money. There is no way in which 
they can possibly invest money by which they will 
be able to receive so great returns. 

(b.) A book is none the less valuable for being old. 

There is a feeling in many, and I fear it is an in- 
creasing one, that all books must be considered 
ephemeral. Like almanacs, they are good for this 
year, and then they are to be laid aside. This feel- 
ing arises, in part, from the peculiar state of things 
in this country, and is, perhaps, peculiar to this land. 
Every thing here is changing, — a year alters the face 
of every thing; and we are in danger of thinking 
that principles, and truths, and thought, must all 
change and pass away. In some Libraries, conse- 
quently, you can hardly get a book read which has 
been on hand more than a year. What is added 
this year, is current ; but nothing else is fit to read. 
This impression or feeling should at once be cor- 
rected. A good book will be equally valuable, 



THE SABBATH SCHOOL TEACHER. 133 



Examples. Wrong impressions. 



(with rare exceptions,) as long as the English language 
is used. Such hooks as came from the pens of Dod- 
dridge, Baxter, Edwards, and Richmond, can never 
decrease in value, or interest. Who will ever hope 
to surpass the Pilgrim's Progress ? When will the 
time come when " Little Henry and his Bearer," and 
" the Dairyman's Daughter," will not draw tears from 
the eyes of the reader ? In selecting a Library, do 
not feel, that because a book was written before you 
were born, it is therefore destitute of interest or wis- 
dom. Do not say to the child, " here now is a beau- 
tiful new book, just written, and one which will de- 
light you greatly," while you say to another, as you 
hand him one of the most valuable books ever penned, 
" I am sorry I have not a new book for you, but they 
are all out ; you must take this old one now, and I 
will try next time to get you a new and an interesting 
work." Truth is imperishable ; and she gains nothing 
by coming out every few years in a new dress. And 
it seems to me that the teacher would be careful 
about making the impression that nothing can be 
valuable unless it be new, if he would only consider 
the mischiefs resulting from it. There is, of course, 
a freshness about a new book which communicates 
itself in a degree to the reader ; but let the child be 
taught that a great and a good thought is something 
that must live eternally, wherever he finds it, and 
that those who lived many years ago, dug as deep, 
to say the least, as any writers of our day, and you 
12 



134 THE SABBATH SCHOOL TEACHER. 

Works of fiction,— &xq they to be used ? Difficulties attending the question. 

will not be troubled by the constant demand for new 
books. In other words, the Library will become a 
thing not to be worn out, and every good book will 
become a permanent blessing. 

What shall be said of works of fiction, — shall 
they be excluded from the Sabbath School ? 

A very important and a very difficult question to 
answer, — and difficult, like all questions of the kind, 
because there is no great and permanent principle on 
which to rest the judgment. My reply is, that the 
question must be answered by the particular charac- 
ter of each book, and it can be answered in no other 
way. If you say that fiction ought in all cases to be 
excluded, then I ask what you say to the story of 
Nathan to David, of the story of the good Samaritan 
by Christ, of the Pilgrim's Progress by Bunyan, — of 
Parley the Porter by Hannah More, and a multitude 
of similar works 1 Who would wish to exclude such 
fictions as these ? If, on the other hand, you decide 
that fiction may be allowed, you throw open the door 
to such works as Dunallan, Lady of the Manor by 
Mrs. Sherwood, and all the religious novels, as they 
are called, which the times have created. Great 
complaint has already been made that the books of 
the Sabbath School Libraries contain too much fic- 
tion ; that the child glances over the pages merely 
for the sake of the story, without getting or trying to 
get the instruction designed to be conveyed. I am 
fully satisfied from watching children, that there are 



THE SABBATH SCHOOL TEACHER. 135 

Fiction not necessary. Why it is so much relished. 

some grounds for this complaint, but a little care on 
the part of parents and teachers will remedy the evil. 
Any book has too much of fiction about it, when the 
instruction is so much covered up that the story only 
dwells upon the memory. But I shall be asked, is it 
not better to read fiction, and books of fiction for the 
sake of the story, than not to read at all ? Possibly 
it may be so ; but that is not the question with us. 
We have not now to determine whether we had bet- 
ter have improper books, or none at all; but to 
choose between proper and improper books. A book 
for children and youth may have no fiction, and yet 
it may be so written that it will be sure to be read. 
I am glad to see that those who are preparing books 
for Sabbath Schools, and who are catering for the 
mind of the young, are beginning to take the right 
ground on this subject. Story will never be excluded 
from the world, nor from the religious part of the 
world ; but it should be so written as never to be mis- 
taken for truth, — and as the philosophy of our love 
for story, is, that it presents human nature in some 
new position above that of poor every-day human 
nature, the less we use it in training up our Sabbath 
Schools, the better. It is impossible to make it ac- 
ceptable, unless you describe men and children as 
what they should be, rather than what they really 
are. 

A word or two on the biographies of children 
which are so abundant. While I fully believe in the 



136 THE SABBATH SCHOOL TEACHER. 

Biographies of children. An impropriety in them. 

early conversion of children, and think I have seen 
many such conversions, I have never yet seen one that 
I should have dared to publish, had the child been ta- 
ken away. They certainly do make wrong impressions, 
and I have no doubt, that through the undesigned 
partialities of parental fondness, the child is often 
drawn in more beautiful colors than justice allows. 
For example, you seldom read of one of these chil- 
dren, who had not a " large, speaking eye, and beau- 
tiful, curly hair ;" and it was with great point that 
two children, in different parts of our country, asked 
the two following questions, — " do all good children 
die?" and, "do all the good little girls that die have 
beautiful curly hair ?" I was once at the house of a 
friend, who said he had just received a visit from a 
gentleman and lady and their child, and was grieved 
to see that child very uncommonly ill-behaved, and 
disobedient to its parents. Judge of my surprise a 
few months after, to read a biography of that child, 
in which it was described as a paragon of all that is 
excellent, — as having been most dutiful and pious 
for a year or two, — all of which was accompanied 
with a steel-engraved likeness, showing the " beauti- 
ful head of curly hair." I do no*t say that the child 
was not really a convert to Christ. I believe it was. 
But I as fully believe that if an impartial stranger 
had drawn up the memoir, much, if not all, that now 
interests, would be gone. This is true of much that 
is given in the shape of biography of children. The 



THE SABBATH SCHOOL TEACHER. 137 

Curious testimony of a child. Janevvay's Token. 

little reader is led to feel that all good children must 
die while children, and that none but very beautiful 
children become good. The following is the testimony 
of a child nine years of age. " She was very little 
acquainted with religious story books ; in fact her 
mind had imbibed a love for the Holy Scriptures, 
which rendered such auxiliaries quite unnecessary ; 
at six years old she read the Scriptures with refer- 
ences, and devoted to that all her leisure moments. 
She kept a Bible always under her pillow, that she 
might read it in the morning before she dressed ; and 
when her parents happened to spend an evening from 
home, she always requested to have a candle in the 
parlor for the purpose of reading in preference to 
playing in the nursery with her brother and sister. 
A Christian friend brought her one day, " Janeway's 
Token for Children," — a beautiful collection of nar- 
ratives, detailing the happy deaths and extraordinary 
experience of very young children. She had not 
read long, when she laid down the book with a look 
of some perplexity, and sat still, evidently deeply 
engaged in thinking : her mother at length inquired 
how she liked the new book 1 She answered, " I like 
it, and yet I don't like it." When asked to explain, 
she said it was very interesting indeed, and very use- 
ful to parents -to read, because it would encourage 
them to begin religious instruction early; "but I don't 
think it fit for children." " Why so ?" her mother 
inquired ; she said she " thought it calculated to teach 
12* 



138 THE SABBATH SCHOOL TEACHER. 

Publishing Societies. 

children to talk like parrots, and say fine things which 
they did not feel. I know I will not read it any 
longer, for fear I would soon not know whether I was 
thinking my own thoughts, or only trying to persuade 
myself that I was one of the wonderful little children." 
While, then, I would neither condemn nor exclude 
biographies of children from the Library, I would beg 
those who write them, to do it with care ; and those 
who put them into the hands of the child, to be care- 
ful to make the impression that the imitation of the 
feelings and character described, is not at all desi- 
rable. 

Societies exist, as is well known, whose great object 
is to prepare and publish books for Sabbath Schools 
— from the infant class to the most mature scholars. 
My mind has undergone a decided change in regard 
to these books, during the last ten years. The desire 
to have their books popular, sought after, and read by 
the children, and perhaps the mutual competition 
between these societies, has led to a multiplication 
of books, little and great, which are nambypamby 
stories — so destitute of deep thought and solemn 
truth, that many mothers wisely forbid them to come 
into their houses. They create a taste for mere stories 



THE SABBATH SCHOOL TEACHER. 139 

Best method of using a Library. 

which is any thing but healthful, and not a few deeply 
mourn over it. At the same time, it would be wrong 
to denounce all that these societies publish. They 
have sent out some valuable literature for the young ; 
but still, the evils of which I have been speaking are 
so manifest and so great, that for the last years, the 
Library of my own Sabbath School, to its great im- 
provement, has been selected chiefly from the cat- 
alogues of such publishers as have been preparing 
books for the young, and adding very much to our 
juvenile literature. I want a book that is not afraid 
to state clearly a great truth or a stiff doctrine, lest 
somebody shall object. I am heartily sick of emas- 
culating our books to the extent that nobody can 
object to a sentiment found in them. This desire has 
undoubtedly led to the story method. We might as 
well attempt to teach anatomy, or the structure of the 
lion or the elephant, by a collection of butterflies. 
In some cases, to my certain knowledge, the nature of 
these books has led to the entire abolition of the Library 
from the school. 

3. The best method of using the Library, in order 
to make it useful. 

So far as the duties of the Librarian are con- 
cerned, — and they are so important that he should 



140 THE SABBATH SCHOOL TEACHER. 



Two errors. 



be excused from all other duties, they should be exe- 
cuted with great dispatch, promptness, accuracy, and 
silence. Were I a Librarian, I should unhesitatingly 
adopt the plan invented in Albany, and now used 
there, and in the city of Boston. For simplicity, dis- 
patch, silence and economy of the time of teachers, I 
have seen nothing equal to this.* 

In using books, children commit two errors. They 
do not fully and thoroughly understand the book 
which they return, and they are anxious to take out 
large books, — those which are above their comprehen- 
sion. To remedy these, is the duty of the teacher. 
And so far as his time and circumstances will per- 
mit, it would be most desirable for him to be ac- 
quainted with the books, and have a short examina- 
tion of each scholar as he returns his book. Does he 
understand the general scope of the book 1 Does he 
understand all the words used in it ? Does he un- 
derstand its moral bearings — and in any measure 
feel them ? Perhaps the book was designed to show 
the effects of falsehood. Does he see and feel the 
truths? By this examination, you can aid him in 
fixing, deepening impressions upon his heart and con- 
science. You can give variety to your instructions ; — 
you can throw light and thought into the mind 
through new channels. By all means advise with 
and for your class, as to the books which they had 

* See Sunday School Journal, November 4, 1835. 



THE SABBATH SCHOOL TEACHER. 141 

Teacher should read. A principle in human nature to be studied. 

better read, not permitting them to take those which 
are above their comprehension, and not permitting 
them to take them faster than they read and under- 
stand. Encourage the children to read the books to 
then* parents ; and if they can give you a good ac- 
count of the influence of the book in the family, do 
not be backward in manifesting your approbation. 
The teacher will need to use the books himself, — 
not merely for his own benefit, but as an example to 
his class. Give them an account of what you read, 
as a specimen of what you want them to do. 

There is a principle in human nature, to which I 
wish here to make a brief allusion. The reader can 
probably remember how, when a child, he listened 
to his mother or father as he took him up on his 
knee and told him the simple stories of the Bible, 
such as the murder of Abel, the flood, the story of 
Joseph, of Moses, Samuel, of David, and of Christ. 
How interesting ! And my reader will remember too, 
that when he became able to read those stories for 
himself, how much more he was interested than if he 
had never heard any thing about them before ! The 
reason is, we love to have our knowledge of any par- 
ticular thing increased ; we derive more pleasure in 
getting a new thought or new light upon what we 
have already obtained some knowledge, than we do 
in getting the same thought or light upon a subject 
of which we know nothing. I need not stop to ana- 
lyze the feeling. Perhaps it may be traced back to 



142 THE SABBATH SCHOOL TEACHER. 

This principle is in nature. May classes be taught at your house? 

pride, — as there is undoubtedly a pain in first con- 
templating a subject of which we are entirely igno- 
rant. I throw out this hint that the teacher may 
seize upon it, and make it of some use, — nay, it may 
be made of great .use. If in your power, give the 
child some account of the book before he reads it, — 
of the subject of which it treats. Is not this nature ? 
Does not the mother tell her child the name, the res- 
idence, and something of the character and habits 
of the visiter whom she expects, and in whom she 
wishes to interest her child ? Do you not enjoy a 
book more, about which you have heard remarks, 
and of which you have obtained some little know- 
ledge previously to reading ? Bear it in mind, then, 
that our interest in any thing is increased, when we 
are conscious that we already know something about 
that subject. In talking with children, allow to them 
all the knowledge which they do possess, and let 
them feel that all that they obtain is only an addi- 
tion to their stock. I must turn from the Library to 
one or two other points. 

The teacher will find it very beneficial now and 
then to invite his class to his house. These inter- 
views may be rather more social than on the Sab- 
bath, but still, I would have them maintain the char- 
acter of religious meetings. They should in no sense 
be considered in the light of a reward. Their object 
should be the increase of the teacher's means of 
doing good, of gaining their confidence and good will. 



THE SABBATH SCHOOL TEACHER. 143 

Answer to this question. 

The question has sometimes been asked me by 
teachers, why they may not take their class home, 
and instruct them by themselves ; that it would free 
them from interruptions, and they could advance 
faster and more pleasantly. My reply is, three-fold ; 
first, that though it might be for the good of your 
particular class, yet it would not be for the good of 
the whole school. All teachers are not qualified to 
take this independent course, — they need the influ- 
ence and stimulus of others, that they may move 
along with the rest. Secondly, that the teacher is 
never to ask what would be most pleasant, but what 
is most useful. All experiments in education have 
been tried, from that of having a tutor or half a dozen 
tutors shut up with a single child, to that of having 
a thousand pupils brought together at the university. 
The result is, that the mind is best educated in con- 
tact with other minds; it is stimulated, quickened, 
cheered, and strengthened. I cannot doubt but an 
hundred scholars brought together^ and properly 
taught, will do better than the same number divided 
into ten classes, and taught separately. Thirdly, that 
the checks and interruptions in the school-room are a 
part of the mental and moral discipline of the school, 
— such as they must meet with at every step through 
life, and such as they should be trained to expect 
from childhood. The teacher, then, who feels like 
withdrawing his class, and feels that it would be 
more pleasant to be separated from the school, will 



144 THE SABBATH SCHOOL TEACHER. 



Last hint,— aid the Pastor. Let the Pastor co-operate with you. 

recollect that in doing it, he must, to a very great 
extent, set aside the interests of the school. 

The last hint which I wish to give in this chapter 
is, that the teacher should try to make it a part of 
his means of usefulness to increase the usefulness and 
influence of his Pastor. 

It is easy for the teachers to ruin the influence of 
the Pastor upon the Sabbath School ; and I am sorry 
to say that I know of a few instances in which they 
have effectually done this. The Pastor is shut out, 
as if the school were altogether in other hands, and 
as if there were danger of his usurping power, were 
it possible. By a refined, but sure process, he is cut 
off from all sympathy with the school. When he 
goes in, he is treated like a stranger, and the conse- 
quence is, he does not often go there. Just .the 
reverse of this should be the course pursued. This 
school is his flock, and the teachers are his helpers 
in instructing and feeding that flock. You should, 
therefore, be very careful not to destroy, or weaken 
the sympathy between your Pastor and the school. 
It need not be done, and it never will be done, un- 
less by design. You must remember that he is 
preaching for your mind, and the mind of the most 
intelligent and gifted in the congregation. Instead, 
therefore, of finding fault, and complaining that he 
does not adapt every sermon to the capacity of chil- 
dren, you must take the thoughts of that discourse, 
and in simple language give them to your class. In- 



THE SABBATH SCHOOL TEACHER. 145 



Teach the cmldren to respect the office. Love reciprocal. 



stead of standing off, and feeling that you occupy one 
field and your minister another, encourage him to 
visit the school as often as he possibly can, — to ex- 
amine your classes, and to talk to and with the chil- 
dren. Make him acquainted with the particular 
traits of character which you discover in different 
individuals, that he may know how to drop a word 
now and then, which will be " as a nail in a sure 
place." Strive to make the children love, and re- 
spect the office of the minister, — not for the sake of 
the poor " dust and ashes" which now fills it, but for 
the sake of having the admonitions, the instructions 
and the prayers of the minister fall with more 
weight. In another place, I shall speak of his duties ; 
but I cannot forbear to urge upon the teachers the 
necessity of making your minister happy in your cir- 
cle, happy in your school, and happy in your confi- 
dence and love. It will all be returned to you ; for 
while there is no man who more needs your respect 
and confidence and love, than your minister, there is 
no heart which will more quickly appreciate these, 
nor more quickly and warmly reciprocate them. He 
relies upon his teachers more than on any others, — per- 
haps all others, for aid, sympathy, and love ; let him 
never be chilled, by finding he is leaning upon a reed 
which will pierce his very heart with sorrows. 
13 



CHAPTER V. 



ACQUIRING INFORMATION IN ORDER TO TEACH. 

The teacher who enters upon the duties of his 
station for the first time, is often, if not usually at a 
loss what and how to do. He knows in general, that 
a particular lesson is to be taught, but he has no 
way of coming at it. He feels his wants, but can 
neither describe nor supply them. How much would 
he value a friend who had been over all the ground, 
and felt his way out through the dark, who could now 
give him just the information needed ! Sometimes it 
is a great relief even to have a friend aid him in the 
examination of a single lesson. Let me endeavor to 
give you some hints which will, I trust, aid you to 
stand on that firm ground, on which you can help 
yourself. 

1. Make the Bible your constant study. 

The Bible is the great store-house of light and 
knowledge on spiritual subjects. Other books are the 
ladders and the scaffolding; this is the temple of 

146 



THE SABBATH SCHOOL TEACHER. 147 



First direction, — study the Bible constantly. 



truth. The rules which many give for the study of 
the Bible seem to me, too frequently to overlook one 
grand characteristic of the word of God ; — viz., that 
as it required supernatural aid to write it, so it does 
also to understand it. The Spirit which dictated it, 
is necessary to understand it ; and the Bible cannot 
be understood, and its true spirit apprehended, 
except by the mind which is led and sanctified by 
the Spirit of God. You must have the aid of this 
Spirit, or you open the word of God in vain. The 
letter killeth : the spirit only maketh alive. In all 
your attempts, then, to understand the Bible, be sure 
to invoke the aid of heaven. Ask, that in God's 
light, you may see light. Some look upon the Bible 
a*s a garden of spices, in which you may walk, and 
at your leisure pluck the flowers, and gather the 
fruits of the Eden of God. But this does not accord 
with my experience. I have found it more like a 
mine, in which you must dig and labor, — the wealth 
of which is not to be obtained without labor ; a mine, 
rich in gold and precious things, but it must be 
wrought day and night in order to produce them. 
You must have times and rules marked out, in which 
and by which you will dig this mine, remembering, 
that all that you bring out will be your own, and will 
be invaluable to you as a teacher. 

In studying the Bible with a view to teach, you 
have a great advantage over other teachers of reli- 
gion. A minister of the Gospel has to meet hearers 



148 THE SABBATH SCHOOL TEACHER. 



Great advantage possessed by the teacher. One grand aim in the Bible. 

who are, not unlikely, full of their own opinions, full 
of pride of intellect, full of prejudices, and full of 
the creations of their own imaginations : they come 
to hear, demanding that their taste be pleased and 
gratified, that their preconceived opinions be met, 
their strong points enforced, their criticisms all 
allowed, and after all these demands are met, if per- 
fectly convenient to apply some little part to them- 
selves, they will do it. Consequently, the preacher 
has to arm himself at all points, prepare himself to 
meet objections in every possible shape, whether 
clothed in language, or only conceived in thoughts. 
Not so with the Sabbath School teacher. He has to 
fit himself only to teach truth, — not to meet error, 
in its ten thousand shapes and forms. He need not 
study to see what a portion of the Bible may possibly 
be made to mean, but what it does mean ; not what 
a perverted taste and a corrupted heart may make 
it mean, but simply, what is its meaning. It is never 
well, nor is it necessary for him to make any other 
inquiry, nor to make any suggestions, except the real 
and true import of the lesson under consideration. 
Do not get the children in the habit of feeling wise 
to pry and enquire and cavil and conjecture about 
new meanings. This is not teaching: it is spoiling 
through vain philosophy. Keep it ever in your mind, 
also, that the Bible has one grand end, and only 
one; — viz., the single purpose of recovering men 
from the ruins of sin, by the death and mediation of 



THE SABBATH SCHOOL TEACHER. 149 



This great aim to be kept in mind. Look at the Bible as a whole. 



the Son of God. From this purpose it never wan- 
ders. All the emblems and figures look to this. To 
this all the prophets point, and stand like so many 
stars, ushering in the king of day. There is no book, 
no history, no chapter or portion of the Bible, that 
does not keep this great end in view. This is the 
key that unlocks all the dealings of God, ail that 
mystery which lay hid in God alone, till the incar- 
nation of Jesus Christ. The question is not, what is 
the simple meaning of each portion, were it a sepa- 
rated revelation from God ; but what does it mean as 
a part of that great system of truth which opens the 
character of God, as dealing with a race of sinners, 
whom he is reconciling to himself, by a method new 
and astonishing in the eyes of the universe. I dwell 
upon this the more, because I have seen teachers too 
frequently conning over a lesson, which was to them 
dry, and almost unmeaning, but which would have 
been full of interest on the plan now suggested. " No 
scripture is of private interpretation :" i. e. as I un- 
derstand it, the different parts of the Bible are not 
to be interpreted standing alone, but in connexion 
with other parts, and with reference to the whole. 
If you take one ray of the rainbow and call it light, 
you may say that light is red, or green, or orange ; 
but if you look at each ray in connexion with all the 
rest, you will say that light is not one of these, but 
consists in the combination of the whole. Most of 

the parables will teach error, unless you keep this in 
13* 



150 THE SABBATH SCHOOL TEACHER. 

Second direction, — acquire comprehensive views. 

view ; and always bear in mind that a parable is not 
explained by " crumbling it in pieces," but by keep- 
ing it together and examining it as a whole. Do not 
be afraid of knowing too much about the Bible, — 
of making it too exclusively the great school-master 
which is to fit you to instruct your class.* 

2. Strive to acquire great and comprehensive 
views of the character and government of God. 

All that pertains to the character of God is ele- 
vating, ennobling, enlightening, and purifying to the 
soul. It is about him and his government that you 
are to instruct. The picture which you form in the 
young mind of his character, and the impressions you 
give of his government, will probably abide through 
life, and shape the destiny of the soul in eternity. 
Suppose you are a skilful mechanic. You have a 
large establishment, furnaces for casting, engines for 
working all manner of iron and brass. The design 
of the establishment is to manufacture steam-engines. 
You have no workmen, but are now about to intro- 
duce a number whom you have to instruct. Some 
are to do the castings; — some to make the small 
wheels ; — some the nuts and screws ; — some to pol- 
ish, &c. You wish to teach them to do every part 
with great perfection. The question now is, ought 

* The hints given in Chap. IX. of the Student's Manual on 
the Manner of studying the Bible, contain all that my ex- 
perience suggests at present. 



THE SABBATH SCHOOL TEACHER. 151 

Illustrated by a machine shop. Mistake of errorists. 

you not to have a perfect and a clear understanding 
of all this machinery as a whole ? Ought you not 
to know where every wheel is to go, — how it is to 
play, what power to sustain 1 Must you not know 
what relations each part bears to the other parts, and 
to the whole 1 This must be so. And you are not fit 
to superintend such a shop, unless you have all this 
comprehensive knowledge. Suppose one workman 
insists that his wheel is the most important, and that 
upon it all depends. Another says his wheel is of no 
consequence, and it may be left out, or poorly made. 
Another insists that the great balance-wheel is of no 
kind of use but to consume power to keep it in mo- 
tion. Are these correct ? Do you not need a know- 
ledge of the whole, so that at a single glance you may 
know the relative importance of each part ? 

Now the great mistake of errorists and bigoted 
people, is, that all have some particular wheel at 
which they work, and insist upon it that this wheel 
is the most important in the whole engine, if, indeed, 
it do not constitute the engine itself! It were easy to 
give illustrations ; but I fear they would be so plain 
that they would create sensitiveness, and thus defeat 
the very object which I have in view. We grant 
that every wheel is essential, and may not be left put; 
but it must be obvious to all, that some are very small, 
and it is as unwise to say that they are the whole 
machine, as it would be to insist that they may be 
entirely left out. 



152 THE SABBATH SCHOOL TEACHER. 



Points of knowledge for the teacher. Suggestion of a correspondent. 

The teacher ought to know who wrote the Bible, — 
the character which the Holy Spirit made use of in 
writing each part, — the circumstances which modified 
this or that character and event. He should know 
how and why a particular part of the revelation of 
God came to be given when it was given. He should 
understand that the word of God is not a collection 
of little histories, of dark and figurative prophesyings, 
of gatherings of poetry, and scraps and hints con- 
cerning the character of God. He must look at it as 
a whole, — understand it as a whole ; and while he 
must of necessity take it in portions to teach the class, 
just as the machinist would put one wheel into the 
hands of one man, he himself must be able to un- 
derstand where that portion belongs, and what part 
of the revelation of God it occupies. 

One of my valued correspondents writes, and urges 
me to prepare a course of simple lessons which shall 
give the child a bird's-eye view of the whole subject 
of revelation, — holding up Christ as the Alpha and 
the Omega, " of whom wrote all the prophets, — of 
whom the types, and shadows, and ceremonies of the 
Mosaic economy spoke, — that this grand, controlling, 
amazing subject, may be earnestly and mildly 
placed before the children's attention, in a simple and 
unique manner." But can such a bird's-eye view be 
given to the child, when our teachers, for the most 
part, are wholly ignorant of it themselves ? Such a 
course of lessons would do great good ; and I hope 



THE SABBATH SCHOOL TEACHER. 153 



Illustration by ministers. Third direction, — acquire clear and definite views. 

some able pen will present it shortly ; but the point 
which I now wish to press 1 is, that the teachers should 
have these wide, comprehensive views; and they 
may rest assured that they will be continually walk- 
ing in the dark, unless they do have them. Such 
views will always add to your own comfort while 
teaching, while reading any particular portion of the 
Bible. Every part will seem to harmonize with other 
parts, and illustrate them. Every ray of light will 
aid you, not merely in seeing what you are now study- 
ing, but will be equally useful for all other parts. There 
is a fulness, an apparent greatness and richness about 
the preaching and the prayers of some ministers, 
which add a charm to their instructions : perhaps it 
may be attributed rather to the kind of study here 
recommended, than to any one thing besides. These 
enlarged views cannot be acquired at once, — they 
cannot be obtained without meditation and thought, 
and frequent comparisons of the word of God with 
itself; but they can be obtained by every teacher. 
Let them not shrink from study, from meditation, 
from thought. They cannot be fitted to teach the 
word of God without these. They will be superficial, 
lean, cold or hot, according to their feelings. 

3. Obtain clear and definite views of all you 
intend to teach. 

Set it down as almost invariably true, that the 
mind which conceives clearly, can make any other 
mind see and feel its conceptions. Some men are 



154 THE SABBATH SCHOOL TEACHER. 



The thoughts must be clear. Names and dates. Felix NefPs testimony. 

called deep men ; but it is generally, as Robert Hall 
says, ' because when they dive so deep, they bring up 
nothing but mud.' When you hear a man talk, or 
when you follow his pen, and find yourself puzzled 
to know what he means, and when you hear him 
frequently begging " not to be misunderstood," you 
may be sure he is foggy in his own mind. A clear 
mind is under no apprehension of being misunder- 
stood. It cannot well be misunderstood. If you can- 
not clearly see the thought which you wish to con- 
vey to the child, do not make the attempt to convey 
it. The child will at once be puzzled, and though 
he cannot tell what the difficulty is, he will feel it. 
It will therefore be best to study your lesson in the 
manner, and in the order, in which you propose to 
teach it. You will then be going over the ground in 
the same path, and will be more likely to see it 
clearly. Every thought should be so plain in your 
own mind, that you have no fear of not being able to 
make the child understand it. 

You will find it of immense advantage also, to have 
accurate knowledge of dates, and places. You ought 
to be perfectly at home in the Geography of the 
Bible. Felix NefF tells us that he found that when 
he came to introduce some simple maps among his 
people who are scattered up and down the Alps, it 
gave them a more definite idea of places than they 
had before. They felt more interest in reading the 
Bible, more interest in sending the Gospel to the 



THE SABBATH SCHOOL TEACHER. 155 



Illustrated by case of Melchizedec. 



places pointed out on the maps ; and that it put a 
new face on things among them. This is good phi- 
losophy. The human mind demands to know dates, 
and places ; and God has adapted his revelation to 
this demand, by giving it at particular times, in defin- 
ite places, and has thus put it into our power to lo- 
cate all that is described in his book. There is 
scarcely any part of the Bible which is not rendered 
more interesting by definite knowledge of the Geogra- 
phy of the country. Let any one, for example, open 
the Psalms and read, ' as the hills are round about 
Jerusalem, so the Lord is about those that fear him,' 
and then let him look at the map of Jerusalem, and 
see the clustering hills all round it, defending it from 
storms, from winds, and from war, and he will see the 
beauty and force of the comparison. Take a plain 
case. How often has the sneer of Tom Paine about 
the parentage of Melchizedec been repeated ! And 
the Christian, when gravely asked to point out who his 
parents were, has found himself in a kind of maze, 
almost wondering what kind of a being he must have 
been — to have been born " without father or mother !" 
Now if you accustom yourself to obtain clear and 
definite views of all that you study, all such shadows 
will be gone. The argument of the Apostle is this : 
The priesthood of Aaron was not designed to be per- 
manent; Christ was predicted to be a Priest, after 
the order of Melchizedec, and not after the order 
of Aaron. Now we know nothing about the geneal- 



156 THE SABBATH SCHOOL TEACHER. 

Fourth direction, — obtain clear and interesting illustrations. 

ogy of Melchizedec, not even who his parents were, 
— (not meaning that he had none !) of course, if 
Christ was to resemble him, he also would spring 
from some other tribe than that of Levi, — since his 
priesthood would continue forever. Nothing can be 
more simple, and definite, and clear. 

4. In preparing yourself to teach, be sure to get 
illustrations which shall be clear and interesting. 

This is one great perfection of all teaching. It 
makes the subject clear, it impresses it on the memo- 
ry where it abides, and it leaves pleasant associations 
in the mind. This was Christ's method of teaching. 
He took the lily, the grass, the tree, the sower, the 
net, any thing and every thing on which the eye 
rested, and pressed it into the service of illustrating, 
adorning, and enforcing truth. Almost every event 
will aid you, and every paper you read, and every 
day you live, will add to your stock. The anxious 
and attentive teacher will seize upon any event, and 
make it aid him in his work. I give you an example. 
A teacher was trying to show a little girl that she 
did not love God. The child could not see it, or 
would not admit it. The subject was apparently 
dropped, and suffered to fade from the memory of the 
child. After conversing with others on other points, 
asking here and there a question, the teacher again 
turned to the child. 

" Maria, how long has your Father been gone V 9 

'•' Seven months last week, on Thursday." 



THE SABBATH SCHOOL TEACHER. 157 

Example,— dialogue with a child. 

" Do you know the reason, now, why you mention- 
ed the very day, Thursday ? 

" Yes, — because he said he would try to be at 
home in just nine months to a day, — that's one rea- 
son ; and the other, — because it seems so long since 
he went." 

" Does he write often 1" 

" He writes to mother every week, and to Sarah 
and me once every month. We have seven long 
letters of our own." 

" Do you know when to expect your letter T" 

" Oh ! yes, — the last Thursday in every month, and 
Sarah and I always run to the top of Janner's hill to 
watch the stage, and sometimes wait there an hour 
or two before we see it come in sight. And when it 
does come, then we hurry off to the Post-Office, and 
hurry Mrs. Meigs for the letter, and then run all the 
way home to have mother read it aloud. Oh ! we 
are so glad !" 

" I should think by what you say that you are very 
fond of your father." 

" Indeed we are, Miss B. ; and when father comes 
home, because he will come in the eastern stage, and 
in the night, we are going to sit up till almost mid- 
night to see him. It will be a great time with us all !" 

" Maria, I am glad to see that you love your father. 
He is worthy of your love. You have answered my 
questions very frankly. Will you answer me one 
more as frankly?" 
14 



158 THE SABBATH SCHOOL TEACHER. 



Impressiou by this dialogue. Illustrate great principles from Scripture. 

" Yes— I— will." 

" Well, can you not now see that you do not love 
God ? He writes letters to you in this book ; you do 
not feel so eager to read them as you do those from 
your earthly father. He offers to meet you and con- 
verse with you. Instead of sitting up till midnight to 
meet him, is it not a task for you to meet him in 
prayer at all ? You say your father has been gone 
seven months, and you want him to come back. God 
has been absent from you, my dear child, much longer ; 
do you feel as anxious to have him return and to see 
his face 1 You know, too, that God is more worthy 
and deserving of love than any human father, — has 
done, and is doing thousands of times more for you, 
and offers to do a thousand times more for you than 
any human being can. Do you love him accordingly? 
Do you now say, Maria, that you love God V 

" Oh ! no, Miss B.," said the child, with her eyes 
streaming with tears. 

All great principles of religion ought to be illus- 
trated as far as is practicable by examples from 
Scripture. This was Christ's method. He taught 
the sovereignty of God so clearly, that " they were 
filled with indignation ;" and how did he do it ? By 
telling his hearers that in the days of Elisha there 
were many lepers in Israel ; but God, in his sove- 
reignty, left them all, and healed none, except Naaman 
the Syrian. There were many suffering widows in 
Israel during the famine, but God in his sovereignty 



THE SABBATH SCHOOL TEACHER. 159 

Beautiful example of Thomas Scott. 

relieved none, except one poor woman in a distant 
heathen village ! All the teaching in the world could 
not make this plainer; and every illustration of 
Scripture gives the child the habit of inquiring what 
great principle the various examples and incidents of 
the Bible are designed to illustrate. As an example 
of this kind of teaching, I cannot but recommend you 
to read the beautiful account of his little daughter, 
who died at the age of four and a half years, which 
Thomas Scott gives, in a few pages inserted at the close 
of the Memoir of his Life. " On my return home one 
evening, my wife told me that her daughter had be- 
haved very ill, and been so rebellious and obstinate, 
that she had been constrained to correct her. In con- 
sequence I took her between my knees and began to 
talk to her. I told her she had often heard that she 
was a sinner against God ; that sin was breaking the 
commandments of God ; that he had commanded her 
to honor and obey her father and mother: but that 
she had disobeyed her mother, and thus sinned against 
God, and made him angry at her, — far more angry 
than her mother had been ; that she had also often 
heard that she must have a new heart or disposi- 
tion ; that if her heart or disposition were not wicked, 
she would not thus want a new one ; but that her 
obstinate, rebellious conduct to her mother, (with 
some other instances which I mentioned,) showed that 
her heart was wicked; that she therefore wanted 
both forgiveness of sins, and a new heart, without 



160 THE SABBATH SCHOOL TEACHER. 

The results of parental faithfulness. 

which she could not be happy in another world after 
death. I went on to talk with her, in language 
suited to her age, concerning the love, and mercy, 
and grace of Christ, in a manner which I cannot 
particularly describe; but my heart was much en- 
gaged, and out of the abundance of my heart my 
mouth spoke ; and I concluded with pressing it upon 
her constantly to pray to Jesus Christ to forgive her 
sins ; to give her a new heart, and not to let her die 
till he had indeed done so. 

I have good ground to believe that from that time 
to her death, no day passed in which she did not, 
alone, more than once, and with apparent earnest- 
ness, pray to Jesus Christ to this effect ; adding peti- 
tions for her father, mother, and brothers, and for her 
nurse, — to whom she was much attached. At times 
we overheard her in her little room to which she 
used to retire; and on some occasions her prayers 
were accompanied with sobs and tears. Once she 
was guilty of an untruth; and I reasoned and ex- 
postulated with her on the wickedness of lying. I 
almost seem now to hear her subsequent confessions 
in her retirements, — her cries for forgiveness, — her 
prayers for a new and a better heart, and that " she 
might not die before her new heart came." In short, 
there was every thing in miniature, which I ever 
witnessed or read of in an adult penitent ; and cer- 
tainly there were fruits meet for repentance, — for 



THE SABBATH SCHOOL TEACHER. 161 



Use of illustrations. Fifth direction, — teacher mv st furnish thoughts 

nothing reprehensible afterward occurred in her 
conduct." 

One great use of familiar illustrations, in addition 
to that of explaining a principle, is, that they aid you 
in enforcing truth upon the conscience. The youngest 
child will be careful not to take any truth home to 
his own conscience any further than it is pressed 
there by his teacher ; and the teacher will not do 
this with any effect, if he do not first apply it to 
his own conscience. Children think and talk in 
figures and in natural illustrations. The parents of 
some children in Wales, on one stormy sabbath, were 
gone to their place of worship, and the children, all 
under eight years of age, were left alone. They 
spent their time in what they there call, an Infant's 
prayer-meeting. Among other simple expressions 
made use of in their little prayers, was the prayer 
that " God Almighty would rock them in his own 
cradle." I have known teachers aided in enforcing 
the truths contained in their lessons by a selection of 
one or more of the anecdotes of Whitecross' Pleasing 
Expositor. 

5. Remember that the teacher must study to fur- 
nish new thoughts, as well as enforce impressions 
already received. 

The process of acquiring new thoughts, and of 
storing the mind with new materials, will be tedious, 
or pleasant, according to your habits and circum- 
stances. Application of the mind under any circum- 
14* 



162 THE SABBATH SCHOOL TEACHER. 



Peculiar characteristics of mind displayed in the city and country. 



stances is no easy matter ; but under some, it is pe- 
culiarly unpleasant. To show clearly what I mean, 
let me briefly state a few marks of difference be- 
tween Sabbath School teachers who live in the city, 
and those who live in the country ; for all who have 
noticed the difference, must have seen that it is very 
striking. 

The mind in the city is awake, susceptible, and 
ready to receive any impression which is desired ; 
but the waves roll on, and the next tide washes it all 
away. The river runs so rapidly, that it cannot be 
salted. The mind will receive, but will not retain 
impressions. In the country, there is nothing to efface 
impressions ; but the difficulty is, to make them. The 
mind seems to receive impressions most slowly, when 
the most calm. In the city, we are in danger of 
carrying our business-habits into every thing, religion 
as well as other things. We take up religion, teach- 
ing, doing good, just as we go to the bank, when the 
hour is come. It is no self-denial to do the business 
pertaining to religion. In the country, the danger is 
of not doing it at all. In the city, we are in danger 
of doing every thing superficially, — of making our 
feelings the standard of duty ; in the country, we are 
in danger of sleeping away life for the want of feel- 
ing. In the city, we are in danger of acting too 
hastily — in the country, of not acting at all, or at 
least, not soon enough. In the city, we trust, that 
our Christian character will stand the test of the 



THE SABBATH SCHOOL TEACHER. 163 



Inference from this comparison. 



Judgment, because we do so many good things; in 
the country, we trust it will stand the test, because 
we do so few things that are bad. In the city, we 
seize upon floating information, and make men and 
passing events our books ; in the country, we read 
and think more, but are a great while in coming to 
results. In the city, we go by the fashions, the public 
voice, and the opinions of others ; in the country, we 
go by self-interest, and are little affected by what is 
passing without ourselves. In the one case, the fire 
seems to kindle quick, but wants kindling often ; in 
the other, it burns longer, but is harder to kindle. If 
in the city we think less, it is true, we think quicker, 
and we are somewhat excusable for not having 
thoughts abide, because there is so much to efface 
them ; if in the country, we think more, it is partly 
owing to the fact, that the mind must turn to itself 
for employment and amusement. In the one case, 
the teacher will need to go to books for ideas and 
thoughts, and will need to study longer for new 
thoughts ; in the other, he will need to go often to 
books, to give him correct views, definite views, and 
to recal thoughts and impressions which are constantly 
fading away. In the one case, imagination, spright- 
liness will be in danger of being neglected ; in the 
other, clear and definite views will be wanting. 
Whether, therefore, the teacher has the habits of the 
city or of the country, he will have deficiencies 



164 THE SABBATH SCHOOL TEACHER. 

Must not substitute words for thoughts. Enforce one point. 

which nothing but the obtaining new thoughts from 
books will supply. 

Some teachers fill the heads of their classes with 
words, instead of thoughts. In every lesson, which 
you study with a view of teaching, you will need to 
ask yourself, what have I, and what have the chil- 
dren under my care to do with this passage ? How 
am I to explain this and that expression? How 
illustrate this and that truth contained in the lesson ? 
What new thoughts, — thoughts which I wish them 
to remember as long as they live, shall I communi- 
cate in connexion with this lesson? How shall 1 
gain the attention at the very beginning of the 
school, so that I can keep it, and deepen it through 
the exercise? What one point in this lesson can I 
illustrate and enforce in a way that will reach the 
conscience, fix itself upon the memory, become 
moulded into the character, and abide through life ? 
Probably it will be wiser to attempt to fasten one 
single point in the lesson upon the minds of all your 
class, than to attempt more. One nail may be driven 
home. If you attempt more, } r ou drive them wrong. 
If we try to enforce too many thoughts on the mind 
at once, they will, as Rowland Hill says, ' batter upon 
the mind,' without entering it, — a mistake into which 
many teachers fall, and one which is, as it were, ne- 
cessary, from their not making it an object to acquire 
new thoughts, and to bring them to bear on a single 
point. 



THE SABBATH SCHOOL TEACHER. 165 

Avoid being abstract. Delightful examples in the Scriptures. 

The great difficulty with which we meet in pre- 
paring ourselves to instruct children, is, that we find 
it difficult to conceive of things and describe things 
in simplicity, without being abstract. All have 
noticed how eagerly a child will read Bunyan's Pil- 
grim's Progress. The reason is, that it is all addressed 
to the eye and the senses. You can see the sinner 
under conviction ; you can hear his groans and com- 
plaints ; you can watch his progress, trials and diffi- 
culties. There is no other possible way in which the 
experience of the converted sinner could have been 
given, which would have been so interesting, and so 
useful. Ask a child if he knows what whiteness is ? 
He tells you no. Ask him if he knows what a white 
wall, or white paper is, and he knows at once. Ask 
him what redness is. He cannot tell you. But 
speak of a red cloud, or a red rose, and he under- 
stands you. Talk about hardness, and he cannot un- 
derstand you. Talk about hard wood, a hard hand, 
or a hard apple, and he understands it all. The Old 
Testament, in the infancy of the world, when there 
was comparatively no reading and no writing, used 
to address men through the senses, and in this way 
alone. If God would speak, he came down in the 
shape of a man, — he called from the burning bush. 
Would he teach his perpetual presence ? He hung 
over Israel in the cloud and in the pillar of fire. 
Would he teach that he is a king, and ruler, he has 
the tabernacle or tent pitched as the palace of the 



166 THE SABBATH SCHOOL TEACHER. 



Interesting experiment. The watch taken in pieces. 

invisible King, and appoints the High Priest to be the 
officer who alone might come and receive the com- 
mands of the king. Men were then children, and 
all the Old Testament teaches them in this way. 
We must follow this method in teaching children. 
They cannot conceive of any thing abstractly. The 
fifteenth chapter of Luke is a most beautiful speci- 
men of teaching through the senses. I once saw a 
preacher trying to teach the children that the soul 
would live after they were dead. They listened, but 
evidently did not understand it. He was too abstract. 
Snatching his watch from his pocket he says, " James, 
what is this I hold in my hand ?" 

" A watch, sir ;" — " a little clock," says another. 

" Do you all see it ?" 

" Yes, Sir." 

" How do you know it is a watch V* 

" It ticks, Sir." 

"Very well, can any of you hear it tick? All 
listen now." After a pause — " Yes, Sir, we hear it." 
He then took off the case, and held the case in one 
hand, and the watch in the other. 

"Now, children, which is the watch? — you see 
there are two which look like watches ?" 

" The littlest one — in your right hand, Sir." 

" Very well ; but how do you know that this is the 
watch?" 

" Because it ticks." 

" Very well again ; now I will lay the case aside, — 



THE SABBATH SCHOOL TEACHER. 167 

Obtain very definite illustrations. 

put it away there down in my hat. Now let us see 
if you can hear the watch tick 1" 

" Yes, Sir, we hear it"— exclaimed several voices. 

" Well, the watch can tick, and go, and keep time 
you see, when the case is taken oil and put away in 
my hat. The watch goes just as well. So it is with 
you, children. Your body is nothing but the case ; 
the soul is inside. The case, — the body may be 
taken off and buried up in the ground, and the soul 
will live and think, just as well as this watch will go, 
as you see, when the case is off." 

This made it plain, and even the youngest went 
home and told his mother that his "little thought 
would tick after he was dead." 

Many can make no impression upon the mind of 
the child because they are so general in their de- 
scriptions. In preparing yourself to teach, be careful 
to get the mind filled with particular and minute 
parts of all you undertake to describe. Suppose you 
wish to teach your class, ' that what they now learn, 
and all that they now see, and feel, and do, will abide 
with them through life.' You wish to illustrate, to 
enforce, and make them remember this particular 
thought. You do it by telling a simple story, and you 
tell it as minutely as possible, something in this way. 

' Children, you know that lions and tigers, and such 
wild creatures live far off in the great woods. Men 
sometimes go after them, and when they find a young 
lion, or a young tiger, — not much bigger than a cat, 



168 THE SABBATH SCHOOL TEACHER. 

The old negro and the lion. The power of early associations. 

they catch them, and shut them up in a cage made 
of iron wire, and when they are grown up, they 
carry them round in carts to show them. Well, a 
number of years ago, a large red lion, with long hair 
on his neck, called the mane, and with bright, fiery 
eyes, was brought along in a great iron cage, to 
show. The cage was iron, — so that he need not 
break out and kill people. It was taken out of the 
cart, and put in the middle of a great barn on the 
floor. A great many men and children went to see 
the lion. Some wanted to see him eat, some wanted 
to hear him roar, and some wanted to see him strike 
his sides with his long tail ; and some wanted to see 
the man who kept him, put his hand in his mouth. 
At last an old negro man came. He was a tall, old 
man, with white, woolly hair, and he carried a great 
cane in his hand. When he came, he walked 
slowly, and softly, and came up and looked at the 
lion. After looking a moment, he began to cry. 
The tears ran down his large, black face ; and then 
he began to sing, and jump, and dance all round the 
barn ! People thought he must be crazy. But after 
he had danced awhile in this way, he began to cry 
again. Now what do you think made him feel so 1 
Can any of you guess ? I will tell you. — Lions live 
in Africa, — a place which is a great way off from us. 
There are plenty of woods there, and the lions live 
in them. This poor old negro was born in Africa ; 
and when he was a young man, some wicked people 



THE SABBATH SCHOOL TEACHER. 169 

Stories used should be true. Sixth direction, — must have helps. 

came and caught him and brought him away from 
his home and his friends, and sold him as a slave. He 
had never gone back, — never seen any of his friends. 
He had not seen a lion since he came from Africa ; 
and now when he came to see one, it made him think 
of his home, — his home, where he used to see lions 
when a boy ! It made him think of his boyhood, and 
called up his parents and friends to his mind, and it 
seemed to carry him back to his own home of child- 
hood. These thoughts made him jump and cry and 
act so ! Do you not now see, children, how that 
what you do, and say, and learn noiv, while you are 
children, will be remembered as long as you live? 
This is what makes me so anxious to teach you good 
things. Now I want you all to remember this story 
of the lion, and the old gray-headed negro ; and re- 
member too why I told it to you, — to show you that 
what we learn when we are children, will be re- 
membered when we are old people, if we should live 
so long. Don't forget it' 

I may be thought to be tediously minute; but 
those for whom I write will not be unwilling that I 
illustrate my thoughts by examples, when I am 
urging them to do the same to their classes. Almost 
any simple story will answer your purpose, — always 
supposing it to be true. 

6. The teacher must provide himself with some 
helps to aid him in preparing to teach. 

Most schools use Questions of some kind or other, 
15 



170 THE SABBATH SCHOOL TEACHER. 

Aids suggested. Necessity of reading. 

and in the present state of Sabbath School teaching, 
I have no doubt that this is wise. But this of itself 
cannot make a good teacher. He should have a 
Bible with References, — which he should feel is to 
he the great interpreter, in connexion with a Con- 
cordance, so far as obtaining a knowledge of the 
Bible is concerned. In addition to this, he will find 
other helps, such as maps, diagrams, Geographies, 
Natural History, Antiquities of the Bible, and the 
like, of great use. Were I to select a commentary, 
I should decidedly place Henry first on the list. For 
obtaining interesting and rich views of the Scriptures, 
I think it decidedly the best in the English language. 
No man can read it daily, without becoming wiser 
and better. To the teacher, it is almost invalua- 
ble. I recollect when I first commenced the ministry 
and was teaching a Bible class, I rode on horse-back 
through deep mud, eight miles to get Henry, long 
enough to examine one single chapter, and thought 
myself abundantly compensated for time and trouble. 
For a single book, I know of nothing so useful to the 
teacher as " The Encyclopaedia of Religious Know- 
ledge," — a book of nearly thirteen hundred pages, , 
and as a whole, of great and permanent value. It 
contains v/hat would cost ten times its own price, if 
the separate books, containing all its information 
were to be purchased. Let me beg of the teacher 
to read some, — even if it be but little, every day. 
No man can live, and forget as much as every man 



THE SABBATH SCHOOL TEACHER. 171 

Seventh direction, — attend the teachers' meeting -punctually. 



must, and keep up with the times, without reading 
and filling up the mind. We love a modest man. 
We have confidence in such men. The reason is, 
that they are usually modest in consequence of read- 
ing, comparing their views with others, and obtaining 
knowledge which is the result of experience ; — while 
a man who does not read, is in danger of throwing 
out half-formed notions, crude opinions, and theories 
which are based upon a false philosophy. A man 
who does not read, can have no confidence in himself 
any longer than he is associated with minds similar 
to his own. Besides all this, a mind that is not im- 
proved by reading will soon have used up all it pos- 
sesses ; and when the man finds that his stock is com- 
pletely exhausted, he is in danger of retiring in 
discontent, and mourning over the stupidity and 
degeneracy of the times. The reading of which I 
am speaking, has direct reference to the lessons to be 
taught. That reading is always the most valuable 
which has an immediate end directly in view. 

7. The teacher £ meeting should be 'punctually 
attended, and made useful in preparing to teach. 

Since a kind providence has placed me in the min- 
istry, there has been no part of my congregation in 
which I have taken a deeper interest than the Sab- 
bath School. If I have in any measure been useful 
to it, — and God has been pleased to bless it abun- 
dantly in converting its members, — it has been prin- 
cipally through the teachers. Our method has been 



172 THE SABBATH SCHOOL TEACHER. 

How teachers' meeting to be managed. Example of a teachers' meeting. 

this. We had a long room fitted up, and a table in 
the shape of a T, capable of holding fifty teachers. 
At the head of this table I have been accustomed to 
meet my teachers once every week. The Superin- 
tendent always sat at my right hand. On this table 
were laid Reference-Bibles, maps, dictionaries, &c, 
as each one chose to bring, — always having a good 
Map of Palestine present. I have then requested the 
teacher nearest me to read a verse of the lesson ; 
asked him questions, and talked with him about it, 
just as if in a parlor. If he could not readily answer 
the question, I say, " can any of the teachers answer 
this question V Any one answers, who pleases. Or 
if he gives an answer not quite satisfactory, or not 
quite full enough, I ask, * has any teacher a different 
opinion,' or, ' would any teacher add any thing to 
this answer V Sometimes these questions lead us into 
long and deeply interesting conversations ; for after I 
have put the questions relating to each verse, all 
have permission to question me. And at the end of 
the lesson, I ask, ' has any teacher any question to 
ask, which has not been satisfactorily answered V I 
have met hundreds of teachers in these meetings, 
have never seen a meeting which was not deeply in- 
teresting, have never seen any thing occur which was 
painful, disrespectful, or otherwise than pleasant. I 
can truly say, that some of the brightest hours of my 
life have been spent with teachers in the Teachers' 
Meeting. I have never seen any disagreement among 



THE SABBATH SCHOOL TEACHER. 173 

Eighth direction, — prayer indispensable. 

themselves. Each one should come to these meetings 
endeavouring to bring a teachable, kind spirit ; to 
bring his share of intellectual food which is to make 
up the feast, and to feel that he is doing all that he 
can to make the meeting profitable and interesting. 
A lesson talked over in this way will be taught with 
great pleasure and profit. I have sometimes been 
delighted with the illustrations which they have 
brought in ; and sometimes have felt that I was aid- 
ing them when they ask, " how, Sir, would you illus- 
trate this and that truth contained in this lesson, to a 
child of six years V 9 The minister and the teachers 
who have been unacquainted with the pleasures of 
these meetings, are ignorant of what will always 
cheer, encourage, enlighten, and warm the heart. 

8. Prayer is indispensable to him who would ac- 
quire knowledge in order to be a teacher. 

Were the question to be asked how you could make 
even fine linen whiter, the answer undoubtedly would 
be, wash it in pure water ; and the purer the water, 
the whiter would be the linen. So if you would 
have the mind clear, and pure, there is nothing like 
washing it in the pure waters of life. It needs daily 
and constant washing, too, for sin daily defiles it. 
Nothing will purify the mind like bringing it into 
contact with God in prayer ; nothing will render it 
clear like this, — nothing will enlarge and strengthen 
it like this. It is the testimony of all such men as 
Payson, that they succeeded in obtaining knowledge 
15* 



174 THE SABBATH SCHOOL TEACHER. 

Need of the Holy Spirit. Habitual spirit of prayer needed. 

vastly more rapidly, in consequence of communing 
with God in prayer. 

There is another thought which should not he left 
out of mind. The Scriptures were given hy the in- 
spiration of the Holy Spirit. He is their author. In 
order, then, to understand them aright, you must go 
to the same Spirit for light and teaching. He can 
guide into all truth, and make you wise to lead others 
to salvation. Your own comfort as a Christian must 
droop and die, your hopes become faint and darkened, 
your faith weak and unproductive, and your love to 
the souls of men will wax cold indeed, unless you 
keep your heart warm at the throne of grace. I do 
entreat my reader never to attempt to get a lesson, — 
never to go to the teachers' meeting, — never to go to 
your class, unless you have first earnestly sought the 
blessing of God upon your soul in secret prayer. All 
meetings of teachers should be opened and closed 
with prayer. All attempts to do good must be founded 
on prayer. Were I to say what I deem the greatest 
deficiency among teachers, — among Christians, — 
among all who are engaged in building up the king- 
dom of Jesus Christ, I should say, the want of an 
habitual spirit of prayer. The mouth that speaks 
in God's name in the pulpit, — the hand that holds the 
pen which writes for the good of others, — the lips 
that pour instruction into the mind of the child, — all, 
all need to be daily sanctified by prayer. This would 
shield us in the hour of temptation ; this would sus- 



THE SABBATH SCHOOL TEACHER. 175 



Conclusion. 



tain us when the horizon looks dark and gloomy, — 
this would strengthen us when the heart feels ignor- 
ant and desponding, — and this would give us the arm 
of Omnipotence for our aid, the wisdom of the Infi- 
nite One for our light, and the sweet communion of 
the blessed Spirit to aid, guide, and reward us. The 
seed sown in the freshness of the morning, and that 
which is scattered in the dews of evening, would alike 
take root, and bring forth fruit, thirty, sixty, and an 
hundred fold. 



CHAPTER VI. 



COMMUNICATING RELIGIOUS INSTRUCTION. 

No one can feel the responsibility of making the 
first, the deepest impressions, on an immortal spirit 
on the subject of religion, without great anxiety. It 
is difficult to know when we are in the right way ; 
still more difficult to know that we do as well as 
we are able. The few hints, which, in this Chap- 
ter, I propose to throw out in regard to the best 
method of communicating religious instruction, will 
be, I fear, as far from being satisfactory to the reader 
as they are to myself: that they will be more unsatis- 
factory, I have no fear. 

Do not begin the work of teaching with a radical 
mistake ; viz. that it requires very uncommon talents 
to teach children. 

There are many most valuable men both in our 
churches and in the ministry, who never make any 
attempts at teaching children, because they think 
they have no faculty for it ; — that this is a gift of na- 

176 



THE SABBATH SCHOOL TEACHER. 177 

A caution, — great talents not necessary. A mistake as to singing. 

ture which has been denied them, and therefore they 
can never exercise it. So far is this from being the 
case, that I believe it to be no more the gift of nature 
than the talent to express your thoughts to adults. 
By attention and long practice you can communicate 
your thoughts to old, or middle-aged people ; and by 
practice you can just as well communicate them to 
children. And yet how often do we hear the thought 
expressed, that it requires " a peculiar talent" to 
teach children ! What a dearth of teachers in most 
of our Sabbath Schools, because the impression is so 
general, that but few have this " peculiar talent !" 
How many, too, would at once leave their classes, and 
retire from the field, — could their places possibly be 
filled, — because they have not this talent ! And how 
many just drag along, year after year, in the school, 
not expecting, not trying to do much, because they 
have not this " peculiar talent !" We find some men, 
by peculiar circumstances, becoming painters, musi- 
cians, and artists. The taste that made them so, is 
thought to be a peculiar gift of nature. Sometimes 
we call it hereditary, as, for example, when the child 
of a musician is taught music, and hears music only 
from his cradle, and grows up fond of music, we call 
it an hereditary taste; whereas, had this child as 
early and as assiduously been taught the use of the 
pencil, he might have had an hereditary taste for 
painting. Till within a short time, it was supposed 
that none could be taught to sing except a few gifted 



178 THE SABBATH SCHOOL TEACHER. 



Power of interesting children may be cultivated. Henry Obookiah's teacher. 

ones who were highly favored by nature. It is now 
found that by taking children early, as great a pro- 
portion can he taught music, as can be taught to 
speak correctly. Scarcely such a thing is known as 
a blind child who is not a musician, — showing most 
conclusively, that this power is no special gift of na- 
ture. The power of interesting children is one that 
can be cultivated to almost any extent ; and what at 
first seems exceedingly difficult, is, in fact, far from 
being so. The power of arresting the attention, and 
of interesting a class, will not come to you as a matter 
of course, without laborious efforts on your part ; but 
you need not have a fear, if you have the ordinary 
powers of men, but you can attain to excellence in 
this department. 

I am not without fears lest I weary my reader by the 
exhortation, be simple — be simple, in your teaching. 
How often have I listened to the teacher who was al- 
most out of patience as he said, ' can you not under- 
stand this ? — it is very plain !' Now it is plain to you, 
but what is so easy for you to comprehend, may be very 
difficult for the child to understand. I have no doubt 
you will, with pleasure, read the following paragraph 
from the memoir of Henry Obookiah, — one of the 
most interesting youths ever converted to Christianity. 
" When he began to read in words of one or two syl- 
lables in the spelling-book, there were certain sounds 
which he found it very difficult to articulate. This 
was true especially of syllables that contained the 



THE SABBATH SCHOOL TEACHER. 179 

A good lesson taught. 

letter R : a letter which occasioned him more trouble 
than all others. In pronouncing it, he uniformly gave 
it the sound of L. At every different reading an 
attempt was made to correct the pronunciation. The 
language generally used on such occasions was, " try, 
Obookiah, it is very easy" This was often repeated. 
But it was soon perceived that whenever these words 
were used they excited a smile. And as patience 
began to be tried by many unsuccessful attempts, and 
the words to be used more in earnest, he was observed 
to turn away his face for the purpose of concealment, 
and seemed much diverted. As he was unable to 
express his thoughts except by acts, no explanation 
was made, and none demanded. The reason was 
scarcely perceived. But as the attempts to correct 
the error were at last successful, the circumstance 
was soon forgotten. A short time after this, long 
enough, however, for Obookiah to have made some 
improvement in speaking the English, his instructor 
was spending an evening pleasantly with him, in 
making inquiries concerning some of the habits and 
practices of his own country. Among other things, 
Obookiah mentioned the manner in which his coun- 
trymen drank from a spring when out upon their 
hunting excursions. The cup which they used was 
their hands. It was made by clasping them together, 
and so adjusting the thumbs, and bending the hands, 
as to form a vessel which would contain a considera- 
ble quantity. Of this he gave an example. After 



180 THE SABBATH SCHOOL TEACHER. 



Results of the experiment. An important thing to be remembered. 



preparing his hands, he was able, from the pliable- 
ness of his arms, to raise them entirely to his mouth, 
without turning them at all from their horizontal 
position. The experiment was attempted by his 
instructor ; but he found that before his hands were 
raised half the distance to his mouth, they were so 
much inverted, that their contents would have been 
principally lost. He repeated the trial until he began 
to be discouraged; when Obookiah, who had been 
much amused with his efforts, with a very expressive 
countenance, said to him, "try, Mr. D., it is very 
easy!" The former mystery was now unravelled, 
and an important lesson taught with respect to the 
ease or difficulty, with which things are done by us 
that are or are not natural to us, — or to which we 
have or have not been, from early life, accustomed" 
This is a very important point. We forget how 
and when we have obtained our knowledge, and are 
in danger of speaking to children just as a Professor 
in College would address his class. Whereas, we 
should always recollect, that what is so easy to us, is 
new, if not incomprehensible, to the child. I once 
made the experiment with a little boy, of trying to 
make him understand every thing which I taught 
him. At the close of every sentence and explanation 
I would ask him if he understood it? He soon got 
so used to it, that he would stop me and say, " / no 
stand;" and I was surprised to see how often his 
open, ingenuous countenance would say, "I no stand." 



THE SABBATH SCHOOL TEACHER. 181 

Children's views. Three modes to be used. 

Just make the experiment any way you please, and 
you will be surprised at the result. I recollect hav- 
ing a long conversation with a little girl on the nature 
and society of heaven, — the characters, employments 
there, and the like. After a protracted and very in- 
teresting conversation, by which I supposed she had 
obtained correct impressions, I was thrown " all 
aback," as sailors say, by her asking in the most art- 
less manner, " whether her new white frock would do 
for her to ivear there /" 

The teaching in the class may be divided into 
three modes, each of which should be used for the 
sake of variety : explanatory, by which the truths 
and facts in the lesson, including the words, shall be 
made plain; catechetical, by which, by means of 
question and answer, the teacher obtains a correct 
knowledge how the lesson is understood, wherein 
misconceived, or misapplied ; and exhortatory, or the 
application, by which the lesson is applied to the 
conscience of the child, being so brought home to his 
own bosom, that he cannot escape its force. These 
should all be used, as times and circumstances seem 
to demand. By the mere mention of them, the 
teacher sees that in the order of nature, variety of 
manner is provided. Sometimes in the first of these, 
you will need to go into the second mode, and hold a 
long conversation with the class, before you can get 
them to understand you. For example, the teacher 
meets with the word Justice in the Question-book, 
16 



182 THE SABBATH SCHOOL TEACHER. 

An illustration of an example. 

and asks a little girl what it means. She hesitates, 
thinks a moment, and says she cannot tell. " I will 
try to make it plain to you. Suppose it to he a rule 
in the school that the child who told a falsehood 
should never again he received into the school, and 
that each teacher was to see this rule carried into 
practice. Suppose two of my scholars should be 
guilty of the sin of falsehood, and I should send one 
away, and leave the other here, because I loved 
her ; — would this be justice V 

" No." 

" Suppose one of these guilty children were my 
own little sister, whom I loved very much, and there- 
fore I let her stay, while I sent others away, — would 
this be justice V 

" No." 

" Well, then, you see that justice is treating all 
persons precisely as they deserve, without following 
our own feelings in the case. But I will make this 
still plainer. I have a book in my hand which con- 
tains a short story, and which makes the word jus- 
tice very plain. Shall I read it, or tell it to you 
without reading ?" 

" We w r ould rather have you tell it to us" — 

" True, that is pleasanter ; but I want to teach 
you how to hear books read, and to learn to read 
them, and therefore justice requires me to read it 
If I wish to teach you to understand books, and to go 
to them yourselves, should I be doing justly towards 



THE SABBATH SCHOOL TEACHER. 183 

Story of the Mexican king's justice. 

you, always to tell you every thing without reading 
any thing ?" 

" No, no ; — we will hear it read." 

" Very well, now see how much of it you can un- 
derstand. — I will read." 

"A striking instance of the stern and impartial 
administration of justice, is afforded in the history of 
one of the kings of Acalhuacan, a province which 
composed a part of the Mexican empire. There was 
a law which forbid, on pain of death, the speaking 
of indecent words in the royal palace. One of the 
sons of this king, for whom he had felt a more par- 
ticular attachment than for any of the rest, on ac- 
count of his disposition and virtues, violated this law. 
The words made use of by the young prince were 
rather the effect of youthful indiscretion, than of any 
bad intention. The king was informed of it, and un- 
derstanding that the word had been spoken by the 
prince in the presence of his tutors, he sent to ex- 
amine them. They, being afraid of experiencing 
some punishment if they concealed the truth, con- 
fessed it openly, but at the same time endeavored to 
exculpate the prince by saying that he did not know 
the person to whom he spoke, nor that the language 
was improper. Notwithstanding all this, he ordered 
the young prince to be arrested immediately, and the 
very same day pronounced sentence of death upon 
him. The whole court was astonished at the rigor 
of the king, and interfered with their prayers and 



184 THE SABBATH SCHOOL TEACHER. 

The king's son executed as an example of justice. Variety to be studied. 

tears in behalf of the prince ; but no remonstrances 
could move the inflexible mind of the king. ' My 
son,' said he, ' has violated the law. If I pardon 
him, it will be said the laws are not binding on every 
one. I will let my subjects know, that no one will 
be pardoned a transgression, as I do not even pardon 
the son whom I dearly love." The punishment was 
accordingly executed. The king shut himself up 
for forty days in a hall, without letting himself be 
seen by any one. He vented his grief in secret, and 
to conceal from his sight every thing that might recal 
his sorrow, he caused the door of his son's apartment 
to be closed up by a wall. He showed his subjects 
that although he was incapable of repressing the 
feelings of a father, and sealing up the fountains of 
his grief, yet he would never permit them to over- 
come his zeal for the laws, and the most rigid impar- 
tiality in their execution." 

" You have now heard the story, children. If the 
king seems cruel to you in this thing, you must re- 
member that he was a poor heathen without the 
Bible to instruct him, and that he aimed at doing 
justice. The law, perhaps, was too severe, but it 
was executed with justice. And hereafter, when- 
ever you see or hear any thing about justice, you 
will at once know what it means." 

By all means study variety in giving instruction to 
children. This is a very important point, and one 
which may not be neglected. Where the class is 



THE SABBATH SCHOOL TEACHER. 185 

The little girls in Wales. 

large enough, sometimes it will be well to vary the 
lesson so far as to give a topic, or a doctrine, and re- 
quest them to bring the proof-texts on the next Sab- 
bath. This will occupy their spare moments during 
the week, and give the teacher an admirable oppor- 
tunity to enter into close conversations, applying the 
truths to the conscience. I have before me several 
letters from one who had been a Superintendent of 
a Sabbath School in Wales for many years. Speak- 
ing on this point, he says, ' Jane and Ann Whicher 
were two of my dear Sunday School children, the 
one twelve, and the other thirteen. They had an 
idle, dissolute father, and a feeble, afflicted mother, 
and they, by their work of platting straw, supported 
them. One lesson was to prove that ' God hears and 
answers prayer.' I always encouraged the children 
to put marks on the margins of their Bibles, opposite 
the texts of Scripture to which their particular 
attention had been called. I was surprised to see the 
number of bits of paper put into their books on the 
succeeding Sabbath, and the great number of pencil 
marks all over their books. After expressing my 
pleasure at their selection of texts, I inquired how it 
was that they found so many ? * Oh ! Sir,' replied 
the youngest, i we searched from Genesis to Revela- 
tion.' ' How do you find time to do it, while your 
work keeps you so fully occupied V i Why, Sir, we 
keep our Bibles open, and look at our work, and then 
on the Bible.' I paid them a visit during the suc- 
16* 



186 THE SABBATH SCHOOL TEACHER. 



Second hint, — views of children 1 s moral character. Illustration, — the physician. 

ceeding week, and found them at their work of plat- 
ting with their Bibles open before them. Their poor 
mother wept, while she described how great a bless- 
ing they were to her. Both of them afterwards be- 
came members of our church.' 

2. The teacher who would convey religious in- 
struction properly, must have right views .as to the 
moral character of children. 

Were you to call in a physician to see your child, 
you would wish him to have right views of the con- 
stitution of your child. He might say, ' this young 
lady has a slow fever, and a bad cough, but I think 
slight remedies will cure her. She ought to see 
cheerful company, attend parties of pleasure, and 
treat herself as if nothing was the matter.' < But, 
Sir,' you reply, ' the mother and the grand-mother 
of this child died of consumption. They were taken 
just as she was. From her childhood she has seemed 
predisposed to this disease, and I am fearful that a 
disease which in some sense seems hereditary, may 
soon leave me childless.' i Oh ! no, Sir, I have no 
belief in hereditary diseases, and I shall treat her 
as if well, only giving a few simple things, and think 
she will throw off what seem to be only the effects 
of a cold.' I ask my reader if such a physician is 
the man to whom he would entrust the life of a be- 
loved child ? I hope to be excused if I introduce 
here the simple account of a child's views in regard 
to heaven. I introduce it, not for the purpose of ex- 



THE SABBATH SCHOOL TEACHER. 187 



The little boy and the dead fly. 



hibiting the child, but the views of the parent on one 
of the most important points ever presented to the 
human mind. 

" I was roused from the multitude of my thoughts 
upon a sick bed, by the innocent prattle of a little 
boy, whose childish soliloquy seemed to accord 
strangely with my own speculations. He is a thought- 
ful, but happy child, of three and a half years old, 
whose innocent feelings seem to rise as naturally 
and affectionately to heaven, as to the friends he 
loves here. I shall give exactly his own sentiments 
in his own language. He had found a dead fly upon 
the window, and laid it upon his little fat palm, and 
was looking down upon it with a beautiful expression 
of childish hope and sorrow. ' Poor fly,' said he, 
* you shall not lie here, and burn all up in the sun, 
if you are dead. I will take you, and when the bell 
tolls I will carry you to the burying-ground, and I will 
say, here is a poor fly wants to be buried up ; and 
they will take you and put you away down in the 
ground. But it won't hurt you, little fly ; for you will 
go to heaven, and be very happy there, with the 
pretty flowers, and you will never die again. And 
when I go to heaven, and my mother goes to hea- 
ven, we shall see you again, little fly !' And he 
raised his blue eyes half filled with tears, to my face, 
and said, ' won't the little fly go to heaven V I 
could not check the beautiful sympathy and the 
kindly affections of his heart. And he loves now to 



188 THE SABBATH SCHOOL TEACHER. 

The mistake a deep one. Remarks on this example. 

tell of the beautiful little flowers and pretty birds he 
shall see in that world of love and happiness, to 
which he is ready to go when his parents and 
brothers can accompany him." 

There is much that is very beautiful in all this ; 
and shall I not be excused too, if I say there is much 
also that is wrong ? Does not the description of the 
human heart, " whose innocent feelings seem to rise 
as naturally and affectionately to heaven, as to the 
friends he loves here," partake more of poetry than 
of truth 1 Take that child and strip him of his de- 
lightful home, and place him in the situation of 
thousands of poor children in our great cities, and 
let a stranger be called to instruct him, and will his 
innocent feelings rise naturally to heaven 1 Or is he 
not a sinner, — will he not sin all his life, even when 
surrounded with God's mercies, — and would he not 
sin, even if angels were to become his teachers and 
guides I We know he would. The best teaching, 
the holiest example will be so far from making him 
holy, that if he should grow up wild, thoughtless, 
wicked, and awfully depraved, though it would 
wring many hearts with anguish, yet it would not be 
an anomaly in the world. Talk about a child's feel- 
ings rising naturally to heaven, when you have so 
far neglected his education that he knows not why a 
fly is not as immortal as himself ! About his being 
willing to go to heaven whenever his parents and 
brothers are ready to accompany him ! Why, all the 



THE SABBATH SCHOOL TEACHER. 189 

Bible views only are safe. The heart is unholy by nature. 

idea he has of heaven, is his own home, with the 
family-circle, and the addition of some beautiful 
flowers ! He would be just as ready to accompany 
his parents and friends to the world of woe, if re- 
quested to do so. He can form no idea of heaven, 
different from his own home. I do not complain of 
the flow of this " beautiful sympathy ;" nor of the 
love of the parent which recorded it ; but I do pro- 
test against teachers undertaking the great work of 
leading children to God, before they have Scriptural 
views of the real state of the human heart. The 
Bible recognizes none who are by nature holy ; — but 
on the contrary, by nature all are children of wrath, 
— all need regeneration, and the sanctifying influences 
of the Holy Ghost. The preacher who does not keep 
the line marked and distinct, who does not divide his 
hearers into two classes only, — the holy, and the un- 
holy, will not be likely to wield the sword of the 
spirit with power, — and I see not how he can feel 
that he is faithful to the stewardship committed to 
him. 

I would not have the Sabbath School teacher feel 
that the children gathered around him are high- 
handed sinners, — but little better than fallen spirits, — 
that they are to be treated harshly, or scolded into 
holiness ; no such thing ; but I would have him un- 
derstand before he begins the work, that he is about 
to deal with depraved hearts ; — hearts that will not 
naturally rise to heaven, nor will they cherish and 



190 THE SABBATH SCHOOL TEACHER. 

Third hint, — must have the confidence of the children. 

love the light of the Gospel as you pour it into their 
hearts. The heart of man is depraved. The earliest 
workings of the soul show that sin is there. You 
cannot find the time when the soul rises naturally to 
God in grateful worship and love ; and while you will 
he careful to let your religion appear as sincere, as 
amiable, as pleasant, as you can, never forget that 
you are teaching a company of sinners. Go on this 
principle in preparing to teach ; go on this principle 
in communicating instruction. Instruct them as sin- 
ners ; feel for them as sinners, pray for them as sin- 
ners. If you go on any other principle, you will stop 
short of the great point aimed at, — the renewing of 
the heart by the Holy Spirit. Go on any other prin- 
ciple, and you will soon become discouraged ; that 
tree which you have so assiduously and so carefully 
watered, does not bring forth the fruits of holiness. 
It is owing, in a great measure, to our keeping this 
line between converted and unconverted men so dis- 
tinct and clear, that this land has been so abundantly 
blessed with frequent and powerful revivals of re- 
ligion. 

3. The teacher must gain the confidence and af- 
fection of his class, in order to communicate reli- 
gious instruction. 

The great Apostle of the Gentiles understood this 
well : " We were gentle among you, even as a nurse 
cherisheth her children : so being affectionately de- 
sirous of you, we were willing to impart unto you, 



THE SABBATH SCHOOL TEACHER. 191 

Teacher must be grave. 

not the Gospel of God only, but also our own souls> 
because ye were dear unto us." You cannot reach 
the heart of a child unless he feels that you are a 
warm, personal friend. You must meet him with the 
smile of love, rather than in the sternness of authori- 
ty. He must be controlled ; but feel that the bonds 
of friendship are around him. He must feel that 
without fee, or reward, without any selfish aims, you 
are laboring for his best good. After you have once 
obtained the confidence of a child, he will scarcely 
attempt to conceal from you his thoughts, or the 
emotions of his heart. In order to gain and retain 
the confidence of your class, let there be no lightness 
of conduct, no trifling, no laughing, no undue famili- 
arity. This is not necessary. Be careful too, not to 
wound the feelings of the child by smiling at his 
ignorance or mistakes. " The teacher," says one who 
has had great experience, " should have great com- 
mand over his risibilities. I have often had replies 
to questions put to poor, ignorant boys, almost irre- 
sistibly ludicrous. In one instance there was some- 
thing so exceedingly ludicrous, that I lost self-com- 
mand and laughed heartily. I at once saw that I 
had lowered myself in the estimation of my pupils. 
I was letting myself down to a level with them. I 
had laughed in God's house, on his day, and in his 
presence, when sixty immortal souls were influenced 
by my conduct. I have too frequently seen teachers 
guilty of similar conduct." No child intends to give 



192 THE SABBATH SCHOOL TEACHER. 

Regard the feelings of the child. Place confidence in the child. 

a ludicrous answer to your question, and if it strikes 
you in that light and you laugh at him, you injure 
his feelings, and leave a sting which will not be soon 
extracted. 

Besides, you will be very careful not to do any 
thing to diminish confidence in the child, because you 
wish to draw him out in conversation. Without this, 
you cannot reach his mind, cannot determine how 
much mind he has, how far it has been cultivated, or 
what instruction and influence it now needs. If the 
child fears lest what he says will strike his teacher 
as ludicrous, or that he will throw the least ridicule 
upon his answers, his heart will be frozen, and the 
fountain of his sympathies will be dried up. Who 
cannot recal times in his own childhood, when he 
has been ridiculed, perhaps by those whom he 
esteemed his best friends, when his feelings received 
wounds which can never be forgotten while life 
remains 1 

Be careful, so far as possible, not to doubt the 
veracity and the good intentions of the child. Nothing 
will so soon check, and kill the growth of confidence 
and love between the child and yourself, as imputing 
things to him in the name of crimes, when he is in- 
nocent. I once knew a fatherless child have his 
veracity doubted by one who ought to have known 
better. All he could say to prove his innocence was 
turned against him, and he was treated as if no 
proof of innocence would be satisfactory. The child 



THE SABBATH SCHOOL TEACHER. 193 

Example. Beware of being partial. 

colored, sobbed, and retired ; but ten thousand kind- 
nesses, and ten thousand good opinions, afterwards, 
could never erase the cruel wound from his bosom. 
The affections, the love, the confidence, were never 
regained, though probably the person who thus cut 
them away, forgot it in a few months, if not in a few 
days. The teacher will find his own heart a good 
instructor in this matter. Every thing should be 
avoided which will tend to prevent drawing each 
child out into familiar and frequent conversations. 

If I mistake not, the teacher will be in danger of 
showing something which resembles partiality. There 
will be some who are more prompt, more ready, more 
attentive, more obedient, more affectionate, than 
others. They show more interest in the lessons, and 
exert themselves to make their teacher feel happy. 
It will be impossible for the teacher not to feel a 
partiality for such scholars. But let him be careful 
not to shoiv it. If you let the quick and the ready, 
answer nearly all the questions that are asked, you 
discourage, and you are in danger of disgusting the 
rest. Children are quick to discover partialities, and 
keen to feel them. Every one, without excep- 
tion, has some one or more good traits of character, 
though there may be many that are bad, counteract- 
ing them. Try to discover what good qualities each 
child has, — draw them out, and strengthen them. 
This will give you a new and a deeper interest in his 
welfare ; and this interest thus created in your own 
17 



194 THE SABBATH SCHOOL TEACHER. 



Class must have confidence in the teacher's capacity. 

bosom, will soon gain his confidence and love. Many- 
Sabbath School children already feel that their 
teacher is by far the best friend they have on earth, 
and the one to whom they would go when the heart 
was enduring its greatest troubles. 

You must have the confidence of your class, not in 
your moral honesty and disinterestedness merely, but 
also in your intellectual competency for your station. 
It is sometimes thought that an incompetent teacher 
will do for a class of very small, or very ignorant 
scholars. This is not so. An incompetent teacher 
is never in his place in a Sabbath School. Who 
needs the proof, that the very best men whom the 
church raises up, are needed to go as missionaries 
among the heathen 1 And yet the heathen are mere 
children in knowledge. But the work of reaching 
and enlightening the mind debased, sunken, darkened, 
and enfeebled by sin, cannot be done by unskilful men ; 
and I believe our best teachers ought to be placed 
over the classes which are the lowest and the most 
difficult to raise. 

So much depends upon the confidence and affection 
of your class, that on newly entering upon the duties 
of teaching, you should make it the first object to 
secure them. Before these be gained, you can do 
nothing to any good purpose. Seek, then, to know 
the habits, the disposition, the whole character of 
every child committed to you. Visit him when he is 
sick ; visit him at his home. Show him that you are 



THE SABBATH SCHOOL TEACHER. 195 

Fourth hint, — must have the power of gaining and keeping the attention. 

interested in him, in his parents, in all that can con- 
cern him. No heart can resist kindness ; and when 
you have the confidence and the love of your pupils, 
God has then given you an influence, which, in most 
cases, may be the means of leading them to the 
Lamb of God. These plants are delicate, and the 
soil in which they are to grow may be very unpro- 
pitious; but still, with proper care, you can cause 
them to take root and grow. 

4. To teach with success, you must have the power 
of gaining and keeping the attention. 

The minds of children are so taken up with the 
trifles of the world, that it is difficult to gain and fix 
the attention. But a greater difficulty arises from 
the fact that their minds are undisciplined, and they 
are unaccustomed to confine their thoughts to any 
particular point for any length of time. The teacher 
is in great danger of feeling disappointed and discour- 
aged at this stage, if he be not well prepared to 
meet difficulties. You prepare the mind to give a 
good exposition of the lesson, or you charge the soul 
with a solemn exhortation, and in the midst of it, 
you see one looking out of the window, or hearkening 
to the recitations of the next class, or perhaps en- 
deavouring to make sport for one across the room. 
Or you find that patience is exhausted, and they 
are listless, uninterested, and stupid, while you 
are speaking. Make up your mind to meet all this, 
and much more also. Remember that your ingenuity 



196 THE SABBATH SCHOOL TEACHER. 



The great secret of success. Example of teaching. 

will be more taxed by gaining and keeping attention 
than by all other things. The great secret of success 
consists in having your own mind deeply interested in 
your subject. You never know a speaker before any 
audience fail of fixing attention, when it is very ap- 
parent that he is deeply interested in what he is say- 
ing. As far as possible, be ready to connect some 
interesting instruction with all your conversations, and 
with the answers to all the questions put to you. A 
teacher is engaged in the historical parts of the Bible. 
He comes to a place where unclean birds are forbid- 
den to the Jews. The Pelican, the Eagle, and the 
Swan, are among them. He goes into the reasons 
why certain creatures were forbidden to the Jews for 
food, the amount of which is, that in their food, dress, 
and habits, God made it as difficult as possible for 
them to associate with the heathen by whom they 
were surrounded. He also adds something of the 
natural history of these birds as their names occur. 
The class, if they are somewhat advanced, will ask 
questions. 

" How long will the swan live 1" 

" It is not known. A goose has been known to live 
an hundred years, and from the firmer texture of the 
flesh of the swan, that would probably live longer." 

" Does the swan sing V 9 

" No, I believe not. The ancients used to suppose 
it did ; but it is now understood that it utters only a 
kind of shrill hiss, or whistle." 



THE SABBATH SCHOOL TEACHER. 197 

The swan. Beautiful poetry. Swartz the Missionary. 

" But I have read of the dying song of the swan, 
and have just been learning some beautiful poetry 
about it. Is it not true, that the swan ever sings so V 

"I wish, Caroline, you would slowly repeat the 
poetry about it, and I will then tell you how true 
it is." 

•'< I will try." 

" What is that, Mother] 

The swan, my love ; 
He is floating down from his native grove, 
No loved one now, no nestling 1 nigh ; 
He is floating down by himself to die : 
Death darkens his eye, and unplumes his wings, 
Yet the sweetest song is the last he sings ! 
Live so, my love, that when death shall come, 
Swan-like and sweet, it may waft thee home !" 

" That is beautiful indeed, and the instruction in 
the last two lines is very good. But poetry need not 
always be truth. It instructs by using fables. This 
is one of the fables of the ancients. But I can tell 
you about a death which is equally beautiful, • and it 
is all trice. Shall I tell it to you V 1 

" O yes, we all want to hear it." 

" You have all heard of Swartz. A little book 
containing his life is in the Library. He died at the 
age of seventy-two, having been a missionary forty- 
eight years in India. He calculated sometime before 
his death, that two thousand had been savingly con- 
verted from heathenism by his means. He acquired 
17* 



198 THE SABBATH SCHOOL TEACHER. 

His character. His death. 

such a character among the heathen, that when 
among barbarous and lawless robbers, he was suffered 
to pass through contending parties of them unmolested, 
and unsuspected. They said, let him alone — let him 
pass — he is a man of God. A tyrant, named Hyder 
Ally, while he refused to enter into a certain treaty 
with others, said, send me Swartz ; send me the 
Christian missionary, for him only can I trust. 
The people had been so cruelly treated that they 
left their lands, and refused to raise any thing. All 
they had raised had been seized and taken away. 
The whole country would soon have been in a famine. 
The heathen ruler promised justice, and tried to in- 
duce them to go back to their farms; but all in vain. 
They would not believe him. Mr. Swartz then wrote 
to them, making the same promises. All immediately 
came back. Seven thousand men returned to their 
land in one day. Such was the man. 

" When he came to die, he was lying apparently 
lifeless, when Gericke, a worthy fellow-laborer from 
the same country, who imagined that the immortal 
spirit had actually taken its flight, began to chant 
over his remains, a stanza of the favorite hymn 
which they used to sing together, and soothe each 
other in his life-time. The verses were sung through 
without a motion, or a sign of sympathy or life from 
the still form before him ; but when the last clause 
was over, the voice which was supposed to be hushed 
in death, took up the second stanza of the same hymn, 



THE SABBATH SCHOOL TEACHER. 199 



Truth to be remembered. A method suggested. 



— completed it with a distinct and sweet utterance, — 
and then was hushed, — and was heard no more. The 
soul rose with the last strain !" 

" Is not this more touching and beautiful than even 
the poetry about the dying swan ? I hope you will 
all remember it, and whenever you read of the swan 
you will recollect this story, and recollect how sweetly 
death comes to a good man, who has faithfully served 
Jesus Christ. We must now, children, go on with 
the lesson." 

Such a digression is not, in my opinion, lost, were 
there nothing but the association of the swan and 
the death of Swartz formed in the memory. But 
there is more ; for the teacher will have no more 
difficulty that day to gain and hold the attention of 
his class. 

Sometimes it will be well to tell all your class to 
commit a certain hymn, or a certain portion of Scrip- 
ture to memory, in addition to the stated lesson. Say 
that if they will all commit it thoroughly, you will 
tell them the reason why you make the request at 
another time, and that when you do make the expla- 
nation, you think they will not regret having learned 
it. By this means, you get something fastened in the 
memory, — you awaken curiosity, you draw the atten- 
tion of all the class towards something which they 
hope to have explained hereafter. In this way, you 
are sure to gain attention, close, undivided attention, 
till that which excited it is finally disposed of. Per- 



200 THE SABBATH SCHOOL TEACHER. 



Illustration. A thing proposed to the class. 

haps you will feel that the illustration given above, 
is beyond the comprehension of your class. They 
are small, and ignorant. You will remember that 
this illustration is not for your class, but such an one 
as might be used in fixing the attention of advanced 
classes. I will, therefore, suppose your class to be 
very young. They live in the country, scattered up 
and down the hills and the mountain-side. You are 
troubled to fix their attention, and are using various 
means by which to do it. You begin the conversa- 
tion something in this way. 

" Mary, have you learned that hymn which I 
marked for you V 9 

" No, not well enough to say." 

" But could you not learn one verse V 9 

" Not well enough to say. I tried, but it was so 
hard." 

" Well, I see how it is. How far do you live from 
the nearest house, Mary V 9 

" O that is Mr. Kelsey's ! It is more than half a 
mile." 

" Do you never feel lonely when you are left by 
your mother, when she goes down to the store V 9 

" O yes, Ma'am, all alone, and I very often go out 
and swing on the gate and cry, till mother comes 
home." 

" Well I have got a verse of a hymn which just 
suits your case, Mary. I have but two copies, but 
if you will all learn it, and say it correctly next Sab- 



THE SABBATH SCHOOL TEACHER. 201 

Interesting story. The poor German family. 

bath, I will tell you a story which has something to 
do with it. But I shall not tell it, unless every one 
of you has learned it. What do you say, — will you 
try 1 Let those hold up their hands who wish to learn 
it. Very well. Here it is. You must contrive to lend 
it from one to the other during the week, and all 
must learn it, or I do not tell you the story." 

The next Sabbath comes. You meet the little 
class. They are all there, their faces bright and full 
of hope. You go through the lesson, and they are 
all attention. You say nothing about the hymn. 
But after the lesson is through, one of them puts you 
in mind of the hymn ! 

" Oh yes, the hymn ! I had not forgotten it, but 
was waiting to see if you had. Who can say it, and 
say it correctly V 9 

You begin, and find that every one says it fluently, 
and with great ease. 

" Well, children, I see that you can learn hymns, 
and I hope Mary will never feel so lonely again, and 
never say again that she cannot learn whatever I 
give her." 

' Many years ago a German left his country and 
with his family came into the State of Pennsylvania 
to live there. He was a poor man, and had a large 
family. There were no schools there during the 
week, or on the Sabbath, and no churches. So the 
poor man used to keep his family at home on the 
Sabbath, and teach them from God's word, — for he 



202 THE SABBATH SCHOOL TEACHER. 



The little captive. 

was a very good man. In the year 1754, a dreadful 
war broke out in Canada between the French and 
the English. The Indians joined the French, and 
used to go to Pennsylvania, burn houses, murder 
the people, and carry off every thing they wanted. 
They found the dwelling of this poor German family. 
The man, and his oldest boy, and two little girls 
named Barbara and Regina were at home, while the 
wife and one of the boys were gone to carry some 
grain to the mill a few miles off. The Indians at 
once killed the man and his son, and took the two 
little girls, one aged ten and the other nine, and car- 
ried them away, along with a great many other 
weeping children whom they had taken after mur- 
dering their parents. It was never known what be- 
came of Barbara, the oldest girl ; but Regina, with 
another little girl of two years old, whom Regina 
had never seen before, were given to an old Indian 
woman, who was very cruel. Her only son lived 
with her, and supported her ; but he was sometimes 
gone for several weeks, and then the old woman 
used to send the little girls to gather roots and herbs 
in the woods, for the old woman to eat ; and when 
they did not get enough, she used to beat them 
cruelly. Regina never forgot her good father and 
mother, and the little girl always kept close to her. 
She taught the little girl to kneel down under the 
trees and pray to the Lord Jesus, and to say over 
with her all the hymns, which her parents had 



THE SABBATH SCHOOL TEACHER. 203 



Restoration of the captives by the Indians. 



taught her. In this state of slavery these children 
lived for nine long years, till Regina was about nine- 
teen, and her little friend was eleven years old. 
Their hearts all this time seemed to wish for that 
which is good. They used to repeat not only the 
texts of Scripture which Regina could remember, 
but there was one favorite hymn which they often 
said over. It was the same hymn which you have 
just now been saying to me ! In the year 1764, the 
kindness of God brought the English Colonel Bouquet 
to the place where they were. He conquered the 
Indians, and made them ask for peace. He granted 
it, on condition that all the white prisoners and cap- 
tives should be given him. More than four hundred 
were brought to the Colonel ; and among them, these 
two girls. They were all poor, wretched looking 
objects. The Colonel carried them to a town called 
Carlisle in Pennsylvania, and had it printed in all 
the newspapers, that all parents who had lost chil- 
dren by the Indians, might come and see if they were 
among the four hundred poor captives. Poor Regi- 
na's sorrowing mother, — a poor widow, among others 
went to Carlisle to see if she could find her children ! 
But when she got there, she did not and could not 
know Regina. She had grown up, and looked, and 
dressed, and spoke like the Indians. The mother 
went up and down among the captives weeping, but 
could not find her child. She stood gazing and 
weeping, when Colonel Bouquet came up and said, 



204 THE SABBATH SCHOOL TEACHER. 



The mother finding her child. 



" do you recollect nothing by which your child might 
be discovered V 9 She said, she recollected nothing 
but a hymn which she used often to sing to her chil- 
dren, and which is as follows : — 

" Alone, yet not alone am I, 
Though in this solitude so drear ; 
I feel my Savior always nigh, 
He comes the weary hour to cheer. 
I am with him and he with me, — 
E'en here alone I cannot be !" 

" The Colonel desired her to sing the hymn as she 
used to do. Scarcely had the poor mother sung two 
lines of it, when Regina rushed from the crowd, be- 
gan to sing it also, and threw herself into her 
mother's arms. They both wept for joy, and the 
Colonel gave the daughter up to her mother. But the 
other little girl had no parents. They had probably 
been murdered. She clung to Regina, and would 
not let her go, and so she was taken home with Re- 
gina, though her mother was very poor. Regina be- 
gan to ask after " the book in which God speaks to 
us." Rut her mother had no Bible, — for the Indians 
burned her Bible when they burned her house and 
killed her family. Her mother resolved to go to 
Philadelphia and buy a Bible ; but her good minister 
gave her one, and it was found that Regina could 
read it at once.' 

" You see, children, why I wished you to learn 
that particular hymn, — the same hymn by which 



THE SABBATH SCHOOL TEACHER. 205 

Labor not to be spared. James Hervey. 

this poor mother and child were restored to each 
other. I know by your looks that you have under- 
stood the story, and hope you will always remember 
the beautiful hymn, and the story connected with it." 

Does my reader say that he cannot illustrate or 
keep attention awake by a story every Sabbath 1 
Nor do I ask him to do it. I only tell him how he 
certainly can awaken and fix the attention as often 
as he pleases. Does he say that this is an expensive 
way of teaching, — that it will cost time and reading 
and planning and thinking? I reply that you can 
have nothing valuable without taking pains, and 
laboring for it. If it requires trouble to fix and keep 
the attention of your class, you are abundantly re- 
paid for all this, by their decided improvement. As 
I am certain that I could fill half a volume at once 
from recollection, with illustrations which might be 
used to fasten instruction, and to fix the attention, I 
cannot readily see why teachers might not do it to 
any desirable extent. 

Few have been more successful in teaching chil- 
dren than James Hervey. " On such occasions," 
says he, "I endeavor to comprehend, not all that 
may be said, but that only which may be level to 
their capacities, and is most necessary for them to 
know. The answer to each question I explain in the 
most familiar manner possible, in such a manner as a 
polite hearer might treat with the most sovereign 
contempt ; little similes I use, that are quite low. In 
18 



206 THE SABBATH SCHOOL TEACHER. 

The great art of teaching. A faithful teacher. 

every explanation I would be short, but repeat it 
again and again ; tautology in this case is the true 
propriety of speaking to our little auditors, and will 
be better than all the graces of eloquence." 

To sum up all that I would wish to say in this 
chapter, the great art of teaching children and 
youth, is to be yourself interested, deeply interested 
in what you teach. This will lead you to try various 
methods of attaining the great object proposed; it 
will lead you to study, to fill the mind with thought, 
and to simplify your modes of communicating your 
thoughts. It will call forth your ingenuity to contrive 
in what ways you can best reach, enlighten, and im- 
press the heart, form habits for this life, and guide the 
soul to the next. The following beautiful testimony of 
a teacher's faithfulness was found among her papers 
after she had gone to the sleep of death. * A class 
of seven was committed to me for instruction, — of 
different ages, from twelve to sixteen, and one was 
older than that. Most of them were girls with whom 
I had little or no acquaintance, and as I took my 
place with them for the first time, I feared I should 
not have a very interesting class. However, I re- 
solved to be faithful to my trust when with them, 
and in my preparation to meet them ; though often 
fearful that I fell very far short both in teaching 
them, and in commending their case to God in 
private. 

It has been my habitual practice to press upon 



THE SABBATH SCHOOL TEACHER. 207 



Her method of teaching. Results. 

their attention those questions in the lessons which 
are addressed to the conscience and the heart ; and 
frequently to ask a number more, which the subject 
seemed to suggest, that, if possible, some valuable and 
lasting impressions might be made ; always requiring 
every scholar to pay her undivided attention during 
the whole recitation. Sometimes I was hurt to ob- 
serve some individual in the class to be gazing about 
the house in a careless manner ; but in general their 
attention seemed absorbed in the lesson. 

'About the middle of summer, one of the oldest 
members of the class began to be anxious about the 
salvation of her soul. This concern continued for 
several weeks, until three more of the class were 
saying, what shall we do to be saved 1 These four 
were all soon brought to rejoice in hope. Two of 
the others, I soon found, were mourning over their 
lost state as sinners, while one seemed hardened, and 
I feared would be left to her own chosen way. 

1 It was my usual practice to inquire of each indi- 
vidual respecting the state of her mind, after the 
close of the recitation, in addition to the practical 
remarks during recitation. Before the time for clos- 
ing the summer term arrived, I had the happiness of 
hearing every member of my class express her hope 
in Christ, and of seeing six of them united with the 
church. (The seventh united soon after.) 

' I could not, should I attempt it, describe what my 



208 THE SABBATH SCHOOL TEACHER. 

Conclusion. 

feelings were, on meeting my class all rejoicing in the 
Savior. 

* I do not know that my instructions were, in any 
considerable degree, the means of leading the class 
to seek religion ; this is left to be developed another 
day. But I felt when I saw them all hoping in the 
Savior, as if I should like to commit them to the 
care of some other person, and take another class, 
that I might still teach sinners.' 



CHAPTER VII. 



INFANT SABBATH SCHOOLS. 



Buffow, in his Natural History, describes the wild 
Ass which was brought to France, and which was 
the only one he ever saw. He says it was nearly 
wild when it arrived, but after great labor and pains 
to subdue him, they at length got him so tame that 
a man dared mount him, having two additional men 
to hold him by the bridle. He was restive like 
a vicious horse, and obstinate as a mule ; still, Buffbn 
thinks that if he had been accustomed to obedience 
and tameness from his earliest years, he would be as 
mild as the tame ass, or the horse, and might be 
used in their place. 

Now the Scriptures describe human nature by 
saying, that * man is born like* a wild ass's colt !' If 
this graphic description be correct, then we cannot 
be too anxious to begin the process of subduing and 
training, too early. The men who are engaged in 
catching, taking and exhibiting wild beasts, never 

18 # 209 



210 THE SABBATH SCHOOL TEACHER. 



Scripture account of children. Hard to civilize a savage. 



think of catching one that is old, or even grown up. 
They take them as young as possible, and even then, 
find it difficult to manage them. They act on the 
soundest principles of wisdom. 

The experiment has often been made of taking 
young savages, sometimes from the Indians of this 
continent, and sometimes from the eastern Isles, and 
educating and civilizing them ; after expending much 
money and pains-taking, we have almost uniformly 
been disappointed by having them return to savage 
life, and savage habits. Some years since a young 
New Zealander was carried to England, where he 
lived many years, was carefully educated, and intro- 
duced into the most refined society. When his edu- 
cation was completed, he returned to his home, and 
at once returned to the habits, the character, and the 
degradations of savage life. This has almost uni- 
formly been the result of attempts to civilize and 
educate young savages. And why ? On what prin- 
ciple can it be accounted for? I reply, that the 
work was begun too late. The impressions made 
upon early childhood cannot be effaced. You may 
take the young savage, and make a palace his home, 
and he is like the wild ass's colt ; he longs for the 
forest, for the lawlessness of savage life. This prin- 
ciple is deep, uniform, unalterable. I cannot describe 
it so well as it has been done by a gifted pen ; and the 
description is so true to nature, and so beautiful, that 
I cannot deny the reader the privilege of enjoying 



THE SABBATH SCHOOL TEACHER. 211 



The reason. Illustrated. 



what can never be read, without stirring up the deep- 
est fountains of the soul. I refer to Mrs. Hemans's 
exquisite description of the deep impressions which 
are made upon early childhood ; and though longer 
than I could wish, yet I can see no part that may be 
omitted. It is a dialogue between a patrician lady, 
and a poor boy from the mountains, whom she wishes 
to adopt as her son. 

Lady. " Why would'st thou leave me, oh ! gentle child 1 
Thy home on the mountain is bleak and wild, 
A straw-roofed cabin with lowly wall — 
Mine is a fair and pillared hall, 
Where many an image of marble gleams, 
And the sunshine of pictures forever streams !" 

Boy. " Oh ! green is the turf where my brothers play, 
Through the long bright hours of the summer day ; 
They find the red-cup moss where they climb, 
And they chase the bee o'er the scented thyme ; 
And the rocks where the heath-flower blooms they know; — 
Lady, kind lady, oh ! let me go !" 

Lady. " Content thee, boy, in my bower to dwell ! 
Here are sweet sounds which thou lovest well ; 
Flutes on the air in the stilly noon, 
Harps which the wandering breezes tune ; 
And the silvery wood-note of many a bird, 
Whose voice was ne'er in thy mountains heard." 

Boy. " My mother sings, at the twilight's fall, 
A song of the hills far more sweet than all ; 



212 THE SABBATH SCHOOL TEACHER. 



Beautiful poetry. 



She sings it under our own green tree, 
To the babe half slumbering on her knee, — 
I dreamt last night of that music low, — 
Lady, kind lady, oh ! let me go !" 

Lady. " Thy mother hath gone from her cares to rest, 
She hath taken the babe on her quiet breast ; 
Thou would'st meet her footstep, my boy, no more, 
Nor hear her song at the cabin door ; 
Come thou with me to the vineyards nigh, 
And we '11 pluck the grapes of the richest dye !" 

Boy. " Is my mother gone from her home away % . 
But I know that my brothers are there at play ! 
I know they are gathering the foxglove's bell, 
And the long fern-leaves by the sparkling well, 
Or they launch their boats where the blue streams flow,- 
Lady, kind lady, oh ! let me go !" 

Lady. " Fair child, thy brothers are wanderers now, 
They sport no more on the mountain's brow, 
They have left the fern by the spring's green side, 
And the streams where the fairy barks were tied ! 
Be thou at peace in thy brighter lot, 
For thy cabin-home is a lonely spot !" 

Boy. " Are they gone, — all gone from the sunny hill ! 
But the bird and the blue-fly rove o'er it still ; 
And the red deer bound in their gladness free, 
And the heath is bent by the singing bee, 
And the waters leap, and the fresh winds blow, — 
Lady, sweet lady, oh ! let me go !" 



THE SABBATH SCHOOL TEACHER. 213 

Depth of early impressions. Education begins early. 

My reader will say, not merely that this is beauti- 
ful, but that it is true to nature. The man whose 
childhood was spent on the sea-shore, who often at 
that period stood on the firm rocks eyeing the storm, 
and the heaving of the deep, as the white waves 
rolled in upon the rocks, will never forget the impres- 
sions. These scenes will haunt him through life, and 
often in his dreams will he plant his foot on the very 
place, and leap the deep crevices, as he used to 
do when a boy. A gentleman was conversing with a 
fine young chamois-hunter on the Alps, upon the 
dangers to which he exposed himself. The young 
man stood upon the edge of the precipice, and draw- 
ing up his noble figure, and grasping his rifle still closer, 
replied, * my father and my grand-father both lost 
their lives in this business, — they lived in that little 
cot where I live. I expect one day to lose my life 
in the same way ; but I would not exchange my home 
and my situation for that of the richest man on the 
wide face of Europe.' 

Let any one take two children at the age of seven 
years, the one the son of a savage, and the other the 
son of a gentleman, and it would be next to impossi- 
ble, by any training, however skilful, to make their 
characters alike. The love of savage life, the im- 
pressions of childhood, could never be removed. But 
let these boys be educated together, without any dis- 
tinction, from the age of two years, and the results 
would undoubtedly be widely different. Probably 



2 14 THE SABBATH SCHOOL TEACHER. 



Character formed early. Sensible remarks. 

more is learned, and deeper impressions are made 
upon the mind between the ages of eighteen months 
and three years, than during the same period of time, 
in any subsequent part of life. From the hour that 
the child becomes capable of noticing what is pass- 
ing around him, he receives impressions from exam- 
ple, and circumstance and situation. So powerful, 
indeed, are the gradual and unnoticed influences of 
these early days, that we not unfrequently see the 
indulged and humored infant a petty tyrant before 
a year old, at two years of age, a discontented, irri- 
table thing, causing every one but its mother to turn 
away from it with disgust. At this period of life, the 
child is making observations, forming opinions, and 
acquiring habits. Notions, right or wrong, are now 
becoming so completely a part of his character, that 
they can never be eradicated. He can now be made 
so fearful and superstitious, that through life he will 
dread to see " the new moon over his left shoulder," 
and will never feel perfectly calm alone and in the 
dark. We should not lay the blame on the disposition, 
as we are too apt to do, till we are sure that the 
glaring defects of character, which are frequently 
seen in manhood, are not the results of neglected 
education, just as we frequently see a tree, stunted 
and dwarfed by a wall, a shade, or a dry soil. 

' Education begins with life. The touch first min- 
isters to it ; afterwards the sight ; and then the hear- 
ing. This is our guide in seeking to assist the pro- 



THE SABBATH SCHOOL TEACHER. 215 

Simplicity desirable. 

gress of Nature. We must begin with present and 
tangible things ; we must then give absent things a 
visible form by picture ; and the picture which meets 
the eye may lead to the description which finds its 
way to the mind only by the ear. The reason why 
the earlier instructions of the nursery should be thus 
embodied in picture, in story, and in narration, is evi- 
dent ; children cannot understand any thing beyond 
them. Every thing is fresh to the mind of a child. 
Curiosity is constantly awake, and novelty is con- 
stantly feeding it. Objects and incidents which have 
no interest for adult life, are sufficient to entrance the 
thought of infancy, and fill the heart with bounding, 
new-born ecstacy. Many persons in writing for chil- 
dren have evidently forgotten to sympathise with the 
period of childhood. They have ceased to remember 
with distinct vividness, the times in which men and 
women were all kings and queens to them; a house 
their world ; a garden their paradise, and the merest 
trifles were possessed of a mysterious power to agitate 
them with anguish or delight. The evil of such writing 
for such a period of life, dwells not simply in the bad 
taste which it exemplifies. Unnatural in itself, it 
produces unnatural and even dangerous consequences. 
The mind of infancy, moved by the gentlest impulses, 
is over-strained and distorted by the violence of such 
premature excitation. Terror is produced instead 
of fear, suspicion instead of caution, extravagance 
instead of generosity, and morbid sentiment instead of 



216 THE SABBATH SCHOOL TEACHER. 

Education begins with Life. Reasons for infant classes. 

benevolent principle. These effects, in numerous in- 
stances, have been perpetuated through every period 
of after-life. The man and the woman have never 
been able to recover themselves from the fear and 
apprehension, the false sentiment, and injurious ex- 
citement, which are considered to be common to 
childhood, but which are not proper to it, and which 
will only be common to it, as the child is exposed to 
injurious treatment, by the absurd tales of the nurse, 
or the nursery book.' 

The preceding remarks have been made to show, 
what ought to be engraven on the heart and memory 
of all, — that education begins with life. Before 
we are aware, the foundations of the character are 
laid, and no subsequent instruction can remove or 
alter them. Linnaeus was the son of a poor Swedish 
clergyman. His father had a little flower-garden, in 
which he cultivated all the flowers which his means 
or his taste could select. Into this flower-garden he 
introduced his little son from his infancy ; and this 
little garden undoubtedly created that taste in the 
child which afterwards made him the first botanist 
and naturalist of his age, if not of his race. 

The reader will infer also from what I have said, 
that I am in favor of having infant classes attached 
to every Sabbath School where it is practicable. I 
do not mean that they should be in the same room, 
but that each church should endeavor to have such 
a school, and for the same great objects for which 



THE SABBATH SCHOOL TEACHER. 2 1 7 



First reason. 



they have the Sabbath School at all. But with a 
view to being definite, I will briefly sum up the rea- 
sons for such schools. 

1. It will give two or three years of additional 
culture, both intellectual and moral. 

Very many parents complain that their circum- 
stances prevent their continuing their children at 
school so long as they could wish ; but they seem to 
forget that they may gain all that they want, and 
even more, by beginning their education two years 
earlier. I have often seen children taken from school 
at sixteen, the parents lamenting that their circum- 
stances would not allow them to continue longer at 
study ; while these parents seem to forget that had 
they begun sufficiently early, their children might 
have had what was equivalent to two years more of 
education ; just as I have seen a farmer, whose lot 
faced the street, exert himself and violate his con- 
science by removing his fence, and crowding up 
towards the road ; perhaps he would gain half a rod 
of land, the whole length of his lot ; while at the 
back-side of the lot there would be a rod or two over- 
run with brush and briars, which, if cultivated, would 
be equally valuable with that in front. How many 
are solicitous to cultivate the front of the lot, and 
leave the back to the dominion of briars and thorns ! 
But the plan of having infant classes attached to the 
Sabbath School, brings the child under moral and 
intellectual culture at the right time ; and if the in- 



19 



218 THE SABBATH SCHOOL TEACHER. 



Time gained. Second reason,— educated naturally. 

struction be judiciously managed, it will place the 
child m advance of children who do not have it. 
There can be no question of this. Not that the child 
can gain as much knowledge which will abide, be- 
tween two and four years of age, as between sixteen 
and eighteen ; but if his education begins at two, he 
will at four years, have that discipline of mind by 
w r hich, at the end of ten years more, he will be as 
well educated as if he began two years older, and 
continued his education the same length of time. It 
is the early discipline of mind, and the early impres- 
sions, which are so important in the education of an 
immortal being. 

2. Such schools lead the child up in nature's own 
icay. 

There is only one possible way by which an infant 
class can be taught, interested, and kept together ; 
and that is by following the path of nature. Any 
thing artificial, strained, or labored, will not do here. 
At a boarding school, or at an academy, you may 
create artificial character and taste : but in a class 
of little children, you must be simple, easy, natural, 
in your instruction. Every one knows how difficult 
it is to unlearn what is wrong. For example, if, when 
a child, you learned to spell certain words incorrectly, 
you know how difficult it is in after years to spell 
them right. So of pronunciation, or of any other 
wrong habit. No small part of education is spent in 
unlearning what is wrong. But begin to teach chil- 



THE SABBATH SCHOOL TEACHER. 219 



Third reason, — valuable habits. Examples of bad habits early formed. 

dren in the Infant class on the principles of the Gos- 
pel, and in the only way in which at that age you 
can interest them, and you avoid all this. Education 
begun in the simple way in which nature teaches, 
becomes invaluable, because its progress is easy, and 
rapid. Habits are formed which may be carried 
through life. Hence, — 

3. Invaluable habits are found in the infant 
class. 

The most valuable part of education consists in 
giving the child a command over his own powers of 
mind. Take, for example, the power of commanding 
the attention. Some have this power in great per- 
fection, and can at any moment task the mind ; others 
can do it more imperfectly ; and others, to a very 
limited extent. You will frequently find a conscien- 
tious man who mourns over his condition. He tells 
you that in worship, and even in prayer, his attention 
will wander. He joins in the prayer which is offered, 
follows a little way, and then, before he is aware, 
off flies the mind, and he is thinking about something 
else. Again he brings it back, fixes his attention, and 
resolves that his mind shall wander no more ; the 
resolution is scarcely made, before he is again gone. 
It does not alter the case, whether he is in the house 
of God, at the family altar, or in the closet. He 
wonders why it is so, and mourns over the state of 
heart which allows it. Now all this wandering of 
the mind could be controlled, had the man learned 



220 THE SABBATH SCHOOL TEACHER. 



Examples continued. 



how to do it in childhood. How many hours of sor- 
row, how much loss of enjoyment, comfort, and im- 
provement would have been prevented, had he only 
learned how to command his attention in early life ! 

Take another example, that of reasoning. We 
are commanded ' always to be ready to give a rea- 
son for the hope that is in us.' But how frequently 
do you find men who cannot command an argument, 
nor answer an objection; not because they are so 
ignorant, but because they cannot command their 
thoughts and gather up their strength at once. They 
can reason, but so slowly that it is of no practical 
use ; can answer an objection, but not till the cavil- 
er has gone away, and gone, believing them unable 
to answer him. This is all owing to the want of 
the habit of using the powers of the mind from in- 
fancy. It will all be prevented by the proper use 
of the Infant Sabbath School. No one, who has not 
examined the subject with attention, can conceive of 
the advantage which a power over the mind, acquired 
in very early life, gives to its possessor ; and few are 
aware how much of this discipline may be very 
early obtained. I will adduce an example to the 
point. There were two little boys who were twins, 
whose names were James and John. They were 
just six years old. One day their teacher had been 
telling them about God, — how great, and wise, and 
good he is. Among other things he said that * God 
was so great, that he filled all heaven.' After their 



THE SABBATH SCHOOL TEACHER. 221 

Dialogue between twins. The principle illustrated. 

teacher had left them, they began to talk about what 
they had heard from their instructor. 

" John," said James, " did not our teacher say that 
God was so great that he filled all heaven V 9 

" Yes." 

" And he said that the heaven of heavens, which 
is the greatest heaven of all, could not hold him V 

« Yes." 

" Well, John, if God is so very great that he fills 
all heaven, I don't see how there will be room 
enough for us, and so we can't go there." 

" Come to the window," said John. " Do you see 
that man yonder coming down the street, and walk- 
ing this way towards us 1" 

" Yes." 

" Well, James, you can think all the way to him, 
so that your think reaches all the way to him." 

" Yes." 

" Well, then, James, does your think stop the man 
from walking towards us V 

" Why, no." 

" Well now, God is just like our think ; and if our 
think does not stop the man from walking towards 
us, neither will God stop us from going to heaven. 
He fills heaven, I suppose, just as your think fills all 
along up the street." 

Here then was reasoning, sound, correct, unan- 
swerable reasoning. It was natural too; the first 
object seen, a man walking, served for an illustration, 
19* 



222 THE SABBATH SCHOOL TEACHER. 

Fourth reason,— counteract wrong teaching. Fifth reason,— useful to families. 

— it is easy, simple, and yet as correct as a learned 
Professor could have given. But nothing but a very 
early discipline of mind could have given such power. 
It is this very discipline which the child acquires in 
the infant class. 

4. It will be the means in many instances of coun- 
teracting the poison of wrong example and wrong 
teaching at home. 

The teacher should not accustom himself to suppose 
that the" teaching and example at home must, of 
course, be wrong. He will find many delightful ex- 
amples to the contrary. But in very many cases, he 
will find the child yet so stupid that he has hardly 
noticed example or instruction, — his mind not yet 
having been aroused, or else, that so far, he has been 
educated wrong. In consequence of those influences 
and circumstances in which you find the child, he would 
grow up a very imperfect, and perhaps a very unde- 
sirable character ; but by taking him now, just as his 
powers begin to develop, and his mind to expand, 
you may lay the foundations for a character, every 
way desirable. You may undo, and more than undo 
all that is done even at home, to lead him to ruin, for 
this life and the next. 

5. It will be the means of doing good to the f ami 
lies in which the children live. 

You take the child from the nursery. Perhaps his 
parents have just enough of what looks toward reli- 
gion, to let him go to the Infant Sabbath School. 



THE SABBATH SCHOOL TEACHER. 223 



Prejudices easily excited. 



This indeed is a part of their religion. The child 
has his memory and thoughts filled with what is good, 
— with simple precepts from the Bible, or beautiful 
thoughts which piety has expressed in poetry. He 
carries these home, he prattles and repeats them all 
over at home, and the parents every day hear the 
prattler. They listen to his hymns ; he asks them 
questions, tells what his teacher says at the school, 
and what God says in his word. Now it is not in the 
human heart to hear this from a beloved child, and 
remain unaffected. The little preacher will be heard, 
and he will throw an arrow too, which, though it 
goes from a feeble bow, may be made to sink into the 
heart by the influences of the Holy Spirit. Thus 
every child becomes a little missionary, and preaches 
the Gospel in the nursery, in the parlor, and to those 
who, perhaps, would neither hear nor heed it from 
any other person. 

The prejudices of some parents are easily excited, 
and the teacher should take great care to allay them 
as easily and as quickly as possible. As soon as 
practicable, they should, a few at a time, be invited 
to visit the school. 

' After laboring for about a fortnight, (in a new 
school at Glasgow,) not a little surprise arose from a 
diminution in the number of the pupils, the cause of 
which we were unable to conjecture. A singular 
incident, however, unravelled the mystery. While 
busily engaged one morning, a person, apparently 



224 THE SABBATH SCHOOL TEACHER. 



An instance of this. 



about forty-five years of age, with well-patched gar- 
ments, and much shrewdness of countenance, came 
in, and without uttering a word, took a chair with 
the greatest gravity, and looked all around with the 
most prying and minute attention. 

* As he had violated the rule laid down,* and evi- 
dently was not one of those who had been engaged 
in establishing the school, I approached him, and 
stated, that, as his presence interrupted the children, 
I must request him to withdraw ; assuring him that, 
in a few days more, ample opportunity would be 
given the public of observing the effects of what was 
then doing. To this he replied, without the move- 
ment of a muscle, " I'm thinking, ye ken, there can 
be no gude ganging on where people wish to keep 
things sae muckle to themsels." I then proceeded to 
reason with him on the necessity and propriety of 
the regulation, when he answered in the same imper- 
turbable style, "Ye '11 no hae time to du what ye 
expect ; for its weel understood what ye're doing, and 
ye'll maist sartainly be defaited. I am thinking 
ye dinna find sae mony bairns as ye had when ye 
first begun." Becoming very impatient, from the in- 
creasing disorder of the children, I urged him to re- 
tire ; when, as he arose, and was on the point of 
going, he said, " It's my duty to tell ye, that it's cur- 
rently reported in the neebourhood, that ye're teach- 

* It was agreed that no persons should visit during the first 

rmtli 



month. 



THE SABBATH SCHOOL TEACHER. 225 

Sixth reason, — cultivate the conscience. 

ing the children the Roman Catholic releegion, and 
I am weel satisfied its true, for I've seen for mysel ; 
and there's the beads ye learn the children to count." 
To my great astonishment, the object he pointed out 
was the Arithmeticon, which I told him was the in- 
strument which we employed for teaching numbers, 
and many other things ; and on which I promised, if 
he would sit down again, to give him a lesson. He 
seated himself accordingly, observed its adaptation 
to the purpose with great delight, and stated, at the 
close of the explanation, that he was perfectly satis- 
fied, and would do all in his power to bring back the 
absentees. He kept his word to the letter, went 
round to all the parents himself, and, in consequence, 
the whole of them returned." 

6. It will be the means of early developing and 
cultivating the conscience. 

No one, probably, can tell how or when, the idea 
of God, the grand conception of an omniscient, pre- 
siding mind, first reached him. It was too early for 
memory to retain. But whenever this idea does be- 
come formed in the mind, then conscience can be 
called out and cultivated. Of course, this is at a very 
early period of life. This is the great work of life. 
Some do not use the means to awaken and call con- 
science into being ; others do not assiduously cultivate 
and cherish her when developed. Proper teaching 
will always create conscience, and give her power, 
even though you may not be sensible of it at the 



226 THE SABBATH SCHOOL TEACHER. 

An example adduced. Materials to be used in an infant school. 

time. " I had taken some pains," says a teacher, " to 
explain the tenth commandment to the infant school 
under my care. A few weeks afterwards, I was in 
company with one of the little girls, who was about 
five years old. In the course of our conversation we 
spoke of another child of the same age, that lived 
very near. " Charlotte," said she, with much anima- 
tion, " has got a pair of new shoes ; they are blue, 
and very handsome." Then pausing a minute, with 
her eyes fixed on the floor, she added, " but I must 
not covet" I had some fear that this child did not 
derive much benefit from the school; but I saw 
enough in this incident to correct my mistake, to in- 
spire me with new zeal and confidence." Every 
degree of influence which conscience can obtain over 
the child in the very morning of its existence, the 
greater power will he have to resist temptation, the 
more likely will he be to become a blessing here, and 
a monument of the grace of God forever in heaven. 

Permit me now to mention the materials with 
which you can operate in the instruction of an infant 
class. 

There will always be some things which are local, 
which are peculiar to your school, and peculiar to 
each individual ; but I intend to mention only those 
which are general, universal, permanent, and upon 
which you may always rely without a possibility of 
being deceived. 

(a.) Love of friends. It is not in the heart of man 



THE SABBATH SCHOOL TEACHER. 227 

Love of friends. Love of imitation. 

to do otherwise than love those who love us. No 
child will come to your school who does not love his 
parents, and his nurse, and love them, too, just in 
proportion as he has been the object of love. You 
may make use of this principle. You may call the 
warm affections of the child around you, may gain 
his confidence, and so obtain his love, that he will put 
his very heart into your hand to be moulded by you 
at your pleasure. Strive, then, to make each child 
your friend, — feel as a friend to him, and he will re- 
ciprocate your love. His heart has not been chilled 
by heartless professions, nor has he yet learned that 
there may be butter and honey upon the tongue, 
while there is war in the heart. Let him not learn 
this lesson from you. 

(b.) Love of imitation is a natural principle, on 
which you may rely with certainty. 

The mother takes her infant in her arms, and 
smiles in his face, till he imitates and catches the 
smile, and returns it. This is probably the first at- 
tempt of the child to imitate ; but from that moment, 
he never ceases to imitate, more or less, till he dies. 
Every one knows how quickly a child will catch the 
tones used in the nursery, will repeat the stories, or 
the songs, the words, the looks, and the motions, of 
those with whom he associates. It is thus that a 
child is so quickly corrupted, and often ruined by as- 
sociating with other children who have already been 
corrupted by others. I have seen a little fellow walk 



228 THE SABBATH SCHOOL TEACHER. 

An example in Africa. 

the paved street with his mouth filled with oaths and 
segars, declaring that he did not believe the Bible ! 
The poor child probably could not even read the 
book of God, but was imitating some poor, depraved, 
apology for a man. A traveller noticed this love of 
imitation even in Africa. ' Resting one day,' says he, 
1 while our oxen were feeding, I remarked a number 
of children around our wagon, humming a tune, to 
which they were beating time. Their appearance 
instantly suggested the idea of an infant school. I 
communicated my idea to Mr. Read, who had ac- 
quired some knowledge of the system. We instantly 
arranged them to the number of perhaps fifty, to 
make the experiment. In the midst of CafFreland, 
among some of the most beautiful scenery in the 
world, I observed the readiness and enthusiasm with 
which the children entered into the spirit of the sys- 
tem, and heard them pronounce the English words 
which they had never before heard with all the pro- 
priety that might have been expected in an English 
school, and saw the eagerness with which the parents 
partook of the delight of the children. I could 
scarcely believe my own eyes and ears, and could 
not help reflecting what a mighty influence these 
schools might have in raising that interesting people, 
had we only the necessary agents and apparatus."* 

*See "Early Discipline Illustrated" by Wilderspin, the 
principal originator of the Infant School System. 



THE SABBATH SCHOOL TEACHER. 229 

Power of imitation. 

A still more interesting instance of the strong ten- 
dency to imitate, which children possess, will be foun'd 
in a paragraph from the same writer. 

" A very pious and excellent man, who had been 
in his majesty's service, and had lost part of his right 
arm, was engaged as master. My opinion was that 
he would be suitable in every respect ; but I was in 
an error, as the sequel proved. All acquainted with 
the infant system know that it includes much manual 
exercise, — such as clapping hands, putting the arms 
out horizontally, and holding them up perpendicularly, 
— and with these evolutions he was much pleased ; 
but having only one hand, he was compelled to pat 
with his stump. In consequence of this, every child 
in the school, to my great surprise, bent his arm and 
patted with his elbow ; when I told them to put their 
arms out, they still bent one in imitation of him, and 
twisted the body round to make the shortened arm 
parallel with the other; and every movement was 
made in the same way. I bade them not to do so, 
but in vain ; and as great distortion would have re- 
sulted, I was compelled most reluctantly to dismiss 
him. — The necessity of this he clearly saw, and, from 
his delight in the work, greatly deplored. 

" I have since seen, from visiting many schools, that 
any physical defect should prevent the engagement 
of a person, however desirable in other respects, 
either as a master or mistress. I know, for instance, 
a master who had a cast in his eye, and all the young 
20 



230 THE SABBATH SCHOOL TEACHER. 

The principle of curiosity. 

children squinted ; and another who had a club-foot, 
in imitation of whom all the children limped. Should 
a teacher stutter or stammer, the young children, 
from the strength of the imitative power, at a very 
early age, will do so too. Similar effects will arise 
from any defects of this kind in monitors, and hence 
children in such circumstances should not be thus 
advanced." 

(c.) You have the principle of curiosity. 

The whole world is not only new to the child, but 
it is deeply interesting. He first acquires knowledge, 
and gratifies his curiosity by his taste, next by the 
eye, then by feeling, and then by the ear. These 
are only the avenues through which he seeks to grat- 
ify his curiosity. As the life of man here is but a 
vapor, as he comes into the world entirely ignorant 
of every thing, it is a wise provision of God, that he 
shall not only learn as he lives, but that his curiosity 
shall ever make him awake, and eager to learn. 
There is no pleasure in ignorance, while every acqui- 
sition of knowledge, however small, gives us pleasure. 
A child will frequently destroy his play-things to see 
how they are made. More than one child has been 
sufficiently precocious to break open his rattle-box, to 
discover what it was that made the noise. It would 
be a hopeless task to instruct a child, were it not for 
this principle of curiosity. As it is, the teacher may 
not only use it, but he may stimulate it, by letting 
the little learner see that he can obtain knowledge, — 



THE SABBATH SCHOOL TEACHER. 231 

The principle of confidence. This is implicit. 

that he can enjoy the pleasure of having his awaken- 
ed curiosity gratified. Remember that this principle 
of curiosity will be gratified ; and if not learning 
what is good, every child will be learning what is 

evil. 

(e.) You have the principle of confidence to aid 
you. 

No species of duplicity is more cruel than that 
which abuses the confidence which the child natural- 
ly puts in those who are older than himself. You 
may go into the nursery and tell him of ghosts, and 
fairies, and witches, and he will believe it all. You 
may tell him any story, however improbable, and as 
his experience cannot detect the improbabilities, he 
will receive it as truth. You may make promises, 
and they will be received as good : and it is not till 
months and years of deception, not till his heart has 
been wrung with disappointments, that he learns not 
to give you his implicit confidence. His confidence 
is like the fresh rose that opens in your garden in the 
morning, — as sweetly and as beautifully blooming, as 
if it were not possible that its very glories should 
tempt you to pluck it, then neglect it, and then throw 
it away. You will make abundant use of the confi- 
dence of the children in the Infant class, but you 
must beware how you abuse it. Take every proper 
method to let the child see that you put confidence 
in him, and he will reciprocate it all. 



232 THE SABBATH SCHOOL TEACHER. 

Natural conscience. Abuse of this by tyrants. 

(e.) You have a natural conscience by which to 
operate. 

There seems to be a reverence, — an innate principle 
of reverence towards God, created in the heart of 
man, and engraven on his very constitution. When 
the mind is darkened, misguided, or instructed wrong, 
this becomes fear and superstition. When it is con- 
trolled by the will of a despot, it becomes the iron 
instrument with which tyranny crushes our race. 
The despot always seizes hold of this principle, and 
makes use of it for his own selfish, unholy purposes. 
You will find this principle in the mind of every 
child, more or less distinctly developed ; and you can 
and ought to make use of it. You may always take 
it for granted that the principle of reverence will be 
found in the heart. You could not create it, were it 
not so ; but as it is, you may use it at once, and al- 
ways in the great and difficult work of instructing 
the child. This is the conscience, — a fire which 
burns beautifully in the morning of life, — whose flame 
is smothered by the dirt of earth during the days of 
youth and manhood, — but which, at the close of life, 
again frequently breaks out, its flame fed by remorse, 
— showing with what fearful light it will flash upon 
the soul forever. 

These are the materials with which you will begin 
the work of teaching an infant class on the Sabbath. 
There are others, such as memory, hope, fear, and 



THE SABBATH SCHOOL TEACHER. 233 

First hint,— great apparatus not necessary. 

the like, but they can all be resolved into those al- 
ready enumerated. 

I proceed to give a few hints on the instruction of 
an infant class in the Sabbath School. 

1. Do not feel that an extensive apparatus is ne- 
cessary. 

There are cards, and pictures of almost every 
thing in nature, prepared for Infant schools. They 
may all have their use at particular times, and under 
particular circumstances. But we want to be able 
to say to any man and to any lady who has a heart to 
be useful, you need not wait and mourn that you have 
not all the apparatus prepared for infant schools. You 
may not get these for years, and may never do it. 
Are you willing and desirous to go to the work ? If 
so, let there be no delay. Who would think of keep- 
ing a steamboat on the stocks, and never launching 
her and putting her to use, because she has not yet 
all the paintings, gildings, carvings, awnings, and trap- 
pings, with which such vessels are so abundantly deco- 
rated, — which add to their expense enormously, and 
consequently to the expenses of travelling in them t 
Who would mourn that his steam-engine had not more 
wheels and cogs, more valves and machinery about it, 
when every bystander sees, that the very simplicity, is 
its excellence ? The fact is, many an infant school 
has failed and come to nothing, though burdened with 
apparatus, — because the teacher relied on these to do 
the work of sustaining the school ; while others, with 
20* 



234 THE SABBATH SCHOOL TEACHER. 

The splendid hotel. Children require diversion. 

no apparatus, or next to none, have lived and 
flourished. I once stopped at a hotel which my 
fellow-passengers greatly admired. The carpets were 
Brussels, the tables of rich mahogany, we had silver 
forks with which to eat, and plated candlesticks and 
wax candles with which to go to bed, servants so 
numerous as to be annoying. I could not admire it, for 
I observed that almost all who put up there, put on 
the airs of rich people, and high-livers at home, and 
when they left, found their bills such as would not 
be likely to tempt them to go there again. In every 
tiling that is valuable, or with which we can take 
comfort, there must be simplicity. I know of several 
most interesting and valuable Infant Schools, in 
which the only apparatus is the Bible, and perhaps 
a few printed hymns. 

The reader will be instructed as well as amused 
on reading the following description of Wilderspin's 
first attempt at teaching an Infant School. 

i As soon as the mothers had left the premises, I 
attempted to engage the attention of their offspring. 
I shall never forget the effort ! A few, who had been 
previously at a dame-school, sat quietly ; but the rest, 
missing their parents, crowded about the door. One 
little fellow, finding he could not open it, set up a 
loud cry of " Mammy ! Mammy !" and in raising this 
delightful sound, all the rest simultaneously joined. 
My wife, who, though reluctant at first, had deter- 
mined, on my accepting the situation, to give me her 



THE SABBATH SCHOOL TEACHER. 235 

An amusing instance of this. 

utmost aid, tried, with myself, to calm the tumult ; but 
our efforts were utterly in vain. The paroxysm of sor- 
row increased instead of subsiding, and so intolerable 
did it become, that she could endure it no longer, and 
left the room; and, at length, exhausted by effort, 
anxiety, and noise, I was compelled to follow her ex- 
ample, leaving my unfortunate pupils in one dense 
mass, crying, yelling, and kicking against the door ! 

* I will not attempt to describe my feelings ; but, 
ruminating on w T hat I then considered egregious folly 
in supposing that any two persons could manage so 
large a number of infants, I was struck by the sight 
of a cap of my wife's, adorned with colored ribbon, 
lying on the table ; and observing from the window a 
clothes-prop, it occurred that I might put the cap 
upon it, return to the school, and try the effect. The 
confusion when I entered was tremendous; but on 
raising the pole surmounted by the cap, all the chil- 
dren, to my great satisfaction, were instantly silent ; 
and when any hapless wight seemed disposed to re- 
new the noise, a few shakes of the prop restored 
tranquillity, and, perhaps, produced a laugh. The 
same thing, however, will not do long ; the charms 
of this wonderful instrument therefore soon vanished, 
and there would have been a sad relapse but for the 
marchings, gambols, and antics, I found it necessary 
to adopt, and which, at last, brought the hour of 
twelve, to my greater joy than can easily be con- 
ceived. Revolving these circumstances, I felt that 



236 THE SABBATH SCHOOL TEACHER. 

Sensible remarks by a lady. The Bible is the great text-book. 

that memorable morning had not passed in vain. I 
had, in fact, found the clew. It was now evident 
that the senses of the children must be engaged ; 
that the great secret of training them was to descend 
to their level and become a child; — and that the 
error had been to expect in infancy what is only the 
product of after years.' 

The following remarks of a lady who speaks from 
experience, are exceedingly judicious. ' I have been 
averse to teaching these young children astronomy, 
or geography, or botany, and especially mathematics, 
partly because it obscures their tender minds with 
things too high for them, and partly because it re- 
quires too great a number of cards, and too extensive 
apparatus. But with the Bible in my hand, I would, 
from the first chapter of Genesis, direct their atten- 
tion to the formation and character of plants, the 
creation and use of the heavenly bodies ; and forming 
a meridian at the garden of Eden, I would begin to 
lead their young minds to trace the successive spread 
of mankind over the face of the earth, and thus, 
without any conscientious scruples about making my 
little pupils too learned, I would " in process of time" 
lead them over the whole known world and gather 
every astronomical, geographical, and botanical and 
scientific hint, which is found in the Scriptures, ac- 
companied with every hallowed improvement which 
it sanctions, and upon which the Spirit of God is 
promised as an instructor. There are sufficient 



THE SABBATH SCHOOL TEACHER. 237 

Early instruction should be unmixed. Examples of Bible instruction. 

materials in the Bible to be a means of laying 
the foundation in the infant mind of all that know- 
ledge of the works of God, which, with proper di- 
rection, may lead to that knowledge which is life 
eternal. Oh ! how little sensible we are how un- 
mixed our first instruction should be ! He who has 
said, " My word shall not return unto me void, but 
shall accomplish that for which I sent it," will never 
let any right use of it fail of a blessing. The minds' 
of children will receive and return instruction through 
this medium with such effect as will frequently make 
both teacher and scholar " bow their heads and wor- 
ship." Thus instructed, these pupils, with a pebble 
out of the clear stream of truth, might, in after life, 
pierce the armour of those giants of error who defy 
the church of the living God, and for whom the 
Christian watchmen are now so laboriously arming 
themselves to meet these great antagonists. 

* I would make the inimitable politeness of Abra- 
ham, when he purchased the possession of a burying- 
place of the children of Heth, a specimen of what 
religion can do in polishing the manners, as well as 
improving the heart. From the Bible we learn just 
enough refinement of manners as, on the one hand, 
raises us above roughness and incivility, and makes 
us, on the other, a reproof to the fastidiousness and 
insincerity of high life ; and I should expect far more 
success in endeavoring to raise human nature from 
its native miserableness, than in endeavoring to de- 



238 THE SABBATH SCHOOL TEACHER. 

Teacher to cultivate gentleness. 

liver it from the pollutions into which polished society, 
commonly so called, had entangled it. It is the hap- 
py medium in every thing which the Bible portrays 
as the path of perfection ; and Agur's prayer contains 
far more, I am persuaded, than we shall ever in this 
world probably learn from it. It is a part of the two- 
edged sword of truth.' 

Whether more or less use is made of cards and 
pictures, and things of that kind, it must never be 
forgotten, that it is the heart with which you are to 
make the deepest, and the most valuable impressions. 
The eye may aid you, but after all, it is the tones of 
voice, sweet, clear, patient, upon which success 
chiefly depends. 

2. Let the teacher cultivate gentleness in himself. 

While the teacher must aim to exert a powerful 
influence over the children, and the most important 
too, which they will ever feel, let him remember that 
he must do this, — he can do this, only by being gen- 
tle. You wish to mould the temper to gentleness, to 
patience and forbearance. The passions are to be 
repressed and disciplined, the affections, the sympa- 
thy, and the tenderness of the soul are to be drawn 
forth. You neither wish nor expect to take these 
children and subdue them by the rod ; you expect to 
be able only to lead them. Your own temper and 
feelings must, then, be under absolute command, and 
the child must never feel that his teacher has forgot- 
ten to be gentle. Let me quote you a passage from 



THE SABBATH SCHOOL TEACHER. 239 

Example of Henry Martyn. Singing necessary. 

the beautiful pen of Henry Martyn. " I walked," 
says he, " into the village where the boat stopped for 
the night, and found the worshippers of Cali by the 
sound of their drums and cymbals. I did not speak 
to them, on account of their being Bengalees. But 
being invited to walk in by the Brahmins, I walked 
within the railing, and asked a few questions about 
the idol. The Brahmin, who spoke bad Hindostanee, 
disputed with great heat, and his tongue ran faster 
than I could follow, and the people, who were about 
one hundred, shouted applause. But I continued to 
ask my questions without making any remarks upon 
the answers. I asked, among other things, whether 
what I had heard of Vishnu and Brahma were true, 
which they confessed. I forbore to press him with 
the consequences, which he seemed to feel, and so I 
told him what was my belief. The man grew quite 
mild and said it was chula bat, (good words,) and 
asked me seriously at last, what I thought^- was idol- 
worship true or false ? I felt it a matter of thank- 
fulness that I could make known the truth of 
God, though but a stammerer, and that I had de- 
clared it in the presence of a devil. And this I also 
learned, that the power of gentleness is irresistible." 
It is very desirable, if not essential to the success 
of an Infant Sabbath School, that there be singing. 
It gives variety, soothes the feelings, cheers the mind, 
awakens the attention, and adds cheerfulness to the 
whole business. The teacher should be able to lead 



240 THE SABBATH SCHOOL TEACHER. 

Example of a good school. Not too much confinement. 

the singing himself, if practicable. If not, some one 
should be associated with him who can. I may add 
here, that not unfrequently, if not generally, a lady 
will manage an infant class better than a gentleman. 
She has more patience, can descend to the minutiae 
better, has more elasticity and versatility, more soft- 
ness and kindness in look, voice, and manner, and 
can work through difficulties with ease, in cases 
where he would either stand still, or burst through at 
any cost. One of the most interesting Infant schools 
within my knowledge is taught by the young wife 
of a clergyman in New England. She spends the 
whole of the Sabbath afternoon with her little charge. 
The school contains about one hundred and twenty ; 
and I doubt not she is doing more for the good of the 
human race than many who wear plumed hats on 
their heads and swords by their sides. 

It is important to remember that at first, and for 
a long time, there should be no one present except 
the teacher and the little pupils. It is impossible for 
a teacher to do justice to the school, if a single adult 
individual be present. I would by all means insist on 
this. As a general rule, children ought to be sepa- 
rated and by themselves as much as possible while 
receiving instruction. 

You will need to be careful that your school is not 
like a prison. Little children must have motion fre- 
quently ; nature requires it, and you must follow the 
leadings of nature. At the same time do not cherish 



THE SABBATH SCHOOL TEACHER. 241 

Deep and ardent piety necessary. Instruction difficult. 

constant restlessness, — as if the great object of the 
school was to keep the children in some kind of 
motion. 

3. Let the teacher remember that he must cultivate 
deep and ardent piety, if he would be successful. 

The romance of an Infant School will be soon 
worn off It cannot be made a play-thing ; it cannot 
be an exhibition. It is not to be the wonder of 
visiters, or the astonishment of parents. It is not to 
be made a mere reciting, or repeating machine. 
Nothing of this will regenerate the soul, or train it 
up for the trials of earth or the glories of heaven. 
It must be the gate of heaven ; and the aims of the 
teacher must be pure, holy, lowly, and yet lofty. He 
cannot meet the trials, the vexations and the troubles 
of his station without piety, — deep piety. If there 
be a station of earth which requires the heart to be 
warmed and cheered and sustained by love to Jesus 
Christ, it is this. Redeeming love must be the theme 
on which the soul never tires. He must be a man 
of prayer. No one can fill the station without help 
drawn from the everlasting hills. Prayer must be 
the morning offering, and prayer the incense of the 
evening oblation, — and prayer must carry on the 
work. Oh ! if you feel desirous of teaching a class 
of infants in the Sabbath School, and are not guided 
'to the work by much prayer, I do hope you will 
weigh the subject well before you go any further. 
No part of the Sabbath School is so difficult to in- 
21 



242 THE SABBATH SCHOOL TEACHER. 



Importance of it to the church. 



struct and manage as this ; and no part is more inte- 
resting, more important, or will receive more good 
from right instruction, than this. It is a little foun- 
tain, but from it several little rills flow, small indeed 
now, but one which will swell and grow till each be- 
comes a mighty river. 

There may be an infant class or an infant school 
in connexion with every Sabbath School in the land. 
It ought to be so ; and why is it not so ? Is it not 
because we have considered these little ones too 
young 1 But may not this impression be a mere pre- 
judice ? Some thirty years ago our churches thought 
that every one must serve the devil till at least 
twenty years old ; and the consequence was, that it 
was a very rare sight to see young men and ladies 
under twenty entering the church with the purpose 
of living for God. Few young people then professed 
to serve God. Was this not a very great mistake 1 
And shall our churches let Satan still have the very 
best part of life with which to take possession of the 
soul 1 No, they must not do it. Let every minister 
and every officer in our churches, and every Super- 
intendent at once take up the subject, and resolve 
that there shall be such a class or classes connected 
with every Sabbath School in the land. Then shall 
we have begun at the right period of life, to sow the 
seed ; and then will our blessed Redeemer gather td 
himself a glorious harvest, — for the garners of im- 
mortality. 



CHAPTER VIII. 



SINGING IN THE SABBATH SCHOOL. 

The soul seems formed for music. The savage 
cannot be found so barbarous as not to have some 
way by which to create musical sounds; and the 
savage who, for the first time, hears the notes of a 
well-regulated band, will crouch down upon the 
ground, entranced by notes so far exceeding any 
thing of which he has ever before conceived. The 
band in passing through the street will draw every 
family to the window ; the flute whose soft notes float 
over the still waters on the summer's evening, will 
cause the Indian to lift the paddle from the water, 
and let his canoe drift noiselessly down the stream. 
And the proudest monarch on earth will kneel and 
weep during some of the strains of the mighty organ, 
and the choir as they sing the Messiah. 

War has pressed music into his service, and made 
the heart leap even upon the field of death, by the 
notes of the bugle, the trumpet and the clarion. The 



244 THE SABBATH SCHOOL TEACHER. 

The love of music universal. Music used in war. Music used by pleasure. 

horse and his rider both feel its power, and by it 
rush into the ranks of death. The charge is made, 
and man is brought breast to breast, under the united 
influence of music and the war-shout. What notes, 
deep, awful, and spirit-stirring, were those which 
rose over the field of Waterloo, as Death rode 
through the ranks, on his pale horse ? The roar of 
cannon, the groans of death, and the murderous 
shout of battle are all softened down by music. 

Pleasure has made music her waiting-maid. The 
ball, the dance, the theatre, would all expire, were 
it not that music gives her constant presence, and 
pleads with a voice so sweet, that the world cannot 
resist it. Any price will be paid for music, if it shall 
have the quality of being exquisite. The man is 
now living who annually receives more for the music 
which he creates on his violin, than would support 
eighty of our ordained missionaries. A lady who has 
earned great fame in the theatres in Europe as a 
singer, has been offered, if she would come to this 
country at least an equal sum. She declined the 
offer, and probably no sufficient inducements will be 
offered to cause her to come, and consequently the 
music of her voice will never be heard this side of 
the Atlantic. I mention these facts, — not to find 
fault, for that is useless, but to show the strong love 
which we all have for music. 

Almost every nation, perhaps all nations, have nation- 
al airs, by which the love of country is deepened, and 



THE SABBATH SCHOOL TEACHER. 245 

National airs. Music used by religion anciently. Music the parent of poetry. 

a national feeling is created and maintained. The 
popular air, " Yankee-doodle," will probably create an 
American feeling as long as our nation exists ; and 
the airs, " God save the king," and " Rule Britannia," 
will never cease to call the heart of the Briton to his 
own glorious Isle. The soldier from Switzerland, and 
from the Highlands of Scotland will weep at the 
national airs which call their hearts home to the 
place of their birth and childhood. 

It is not a matter of surprise, then, that from the 
fall of man to the present hour, as we have reason 
to believe, religion has made great use of music to 
aid her disciples. It was early taught in the schools 
of the Prophets, and from them went out through 
the length and breadth of the land of God's people. 
Not only so, but God made special provision for its 
use, in giving to his church those inspired songs which 
bear the name of David, and which will be sung as 
long as the church exists on earth. From the days 
of David down to the third century of the Christian 
era, music was exceedingly simple, touching, and 
effective. It was the music of nature, so to speak, 
and consisted in little else than a refined delivery, 
superadded to sacred poetry. Music, in the most 
ancient ages of the world, was the parent of poetry. 
Deborah wrote her wonderfully sublime song, that it 
might be sung and committed to memory by the 
army of Barak. The great poem of Homer, it is 
said, is the daughter of music, — a composition which 
21* 



246 THE SABBATH SCHOOL TEACHER. 

Homer's influence. Provision of Providence for music. 

has had more influence upon the character of the 
earth, probably, than any other book in existence, 
except the Bible. ' From Homer,' says Pope, ' the 
poets drew their inspiration, the critics their rules, 
and the philosophers a defence of their opinions; 
every author was found to use his name, and every 
profession writ books upon him, till they swelled to 
libraries. The warriors formed themselves upon his 
heroes, and the oracles delivered his verses for an 
swer.' 

God has not only created the ear to delight in the 
melody of sweet sounds, but has created a most 
wonderful musical instrument for the use of every 
one. Between the top of the throat and the root of 
the tongue, he has made an enlargement, — a cavity 
of two or three inches, and most wonderfully lined it 
with delicate membranes, ' so stretched that the air 
passing through them makes a sound as through the 
reed of a clarionet. This would be a curious instru- 
ment, even if it admitted of no variation of sound ; 
but it is furnished with five cartilages, which contract 
and expand the cavity at pleasure in different ways, 
so as to give different vibrations, and of course, dif- 
ferent tones. In this small space, then, in the throat 
of every human being, is an instrument with a compass 
of from two to three octaves, which has the command 
of every semi-tone, and subdivision of note, swell, 
trill, &c; and not necessarily exposed to the imper- 
fections of artificial instruments, but so clear, so rich, 



THE SABBATH SCHOOL TEACHER. 247 



Singing ought to be cultivated in schools. A wrong inflicted if omitted. 

so sweet, when well used, as to be the highest stand- 
ard of comparison, — in these points, for the flute, 
clarionet, piano, and organ.' 

Now let any one consider this wonderful provision, 
prepared and at hand every where, created by God 
himself, — let him remember that the soul is so de- 
lighted with music, that the highest and sweetest 
emblem by which inspiration coujd describe heaven, 
is that of the ten thousand times ten thousand, an- 
gels and men, joined in one mighty choir, before the 
throne of God, and ail unitedly praising him forever 
and ever, — and then say if singing ought not to have 
a prominent place in all systems of education? 
Especially, ought it not to have a very prominent 
place in the very nursery of the church — the Sab- 
bath School '( I cannot but feel that we are very 
far behind the proper standard on this subject ; and 
1 plead in behalf of every child, with the earnestness 
of one who was himself neglected in childhood in 
this particular, and who has in consequence suffered 
a loss of enjoyment which no language can describe. 
By such neglect we inflict a wrong upon the children, 
which is not the less real or cruel, that they do not 
now feel and mourn over it. 

Till within a short time, it has been an opinion al- 
most universal, that but a few could be taught to 
sing ; that the talent for music was a peculiar gift 
of nature, entrusted to a favored few. Parents have 
decided, — unless, indeed, their child learned to sing 



248 THE SABBATH SCHOOL TEACHER. 



Talent not confined to a few. All can sing,— first proof. Second proof 

almost by inspiration, that their children had no taste 
for music. The opinion has become so prevalent 
that but a very small part of our congregations even 
pretend to sing, or suppose themselves capable. Nor 
are they capable, at the present time and under the 
present circumstances ; but would it have been so, 
had proper pains been taken when they were chil- 
dren ? How much pains do parents take to teach a 
child to speak correctly 1 Had children the oppor- 
tunity of hearing speaking, and of being taught to 
speak only as they have opportunity to learn to sing, 
would any more be able to talk, than are able now 
to sing ? I shall not contend that every child who 
can be taught to speak, might be taught to sing ; but 
I believe the exceptions would be very rare. Allow 
me to state a few plain facts. 

1. In an Orphan Asylum in Germany containing 
two hundred children, there are only two certainly, 
who have not learned to sing, and that too, correctly. 
These children, of course, are taken early, and pro- 
bably considerable pains are taken with them; be 
this so or not, the fact is one of great weight in de- 
ciding such a question. 

2. In all the common district schools in Germany, 
singing and music are taught, and every child is as 
much expected to read and write, and perform music, 
as to read, write, and recite any other lesson. It is 
not pretended, indeed, that these are all first-rate 
singers, or that they go deeply into the science of 



THE SABBATH SCHOOL TEACHER. 249 

Third proof. Fourth proof. Fifth proof. 

music ; but that they go far enough to be respectable 
performers in sacred music. 

3. When a gentleman wishes to have his daughter 
taught music on the piano, the question, in these 
days, is not asked, ' has the child an ear for music, — 
can she ever learn music V — but the question is, can 
he afford the expense of the instrument and of the 
tuition ; if he can do that, every music-teacher will 
engage to take care of the rest, and to create a taste, 
sufficient, at least, to make her a performer who shall 
be the pride of her parents. This could not be done, 
if it were true, that the power of being a musician 
must always be innate. 

4. The Puritans of New-England, almost without 
exception, were accustomed to have singing at their 
family devotions, in which all the members of the 
family soon learned to take a part. This was so of 
the Scotch covenanters. They were denominated a 
' Psalm-singing generation' in part, because all, old 
and young, were accustomed to sing. 

5. It has been found by the Professors of music of 
the present day, who have made extensive trials, that 
they can go into a common school, and take the chil- 
dren as they rise, and teach them all to sing. There 
are, indeed, rare cases of organic defect, just as there 
are cases in which the eye has been known to mis- 
take red for green, — in which singing cannot be 
taught. But these are exceptions; but were the 
season of childhood faithfully improved, few would be 



250 THE SABBATH SCHOOL TEACHER. 

Interesting account by Wesley of Sabbath School singing. 

pronounced as unfit to join in the songs of Zion. The 
right habits, however, must be formed at the right 
time, which is childhood. Few children fail of being 
able to sing, whose parents are singers, and who, as 
a consequence, hear singing from their very infancy. 
In cases in which an attempt has been made to teach 
a school to sing, and it has failed, I would suggest 
whether it has not been in consequence of not having 
it very simple. You may teach a child any thing, 
even mathematics ; but you must begin with what is 
very simple. The Methodists seldom fail to get all 
their children to sing their simple music. The follow- 
ing is from the pen of Wesley. " About three o'clock 
in the afternoon of the Lord's day, April 20, 1788, I 
met between nine hundred and a thousand of the 
children belonging to our Sunday Schools in Bolton. 
I never saw such a sight before. They were all ex- 
actly clean, as well as plain in their apparel. All 
were serious and well-behaved ; many, both boys and 
girls, had as beautiful faces as, I believe, England or 
Europe can afford. When they all sung together, and 
none of them out of tune, the melody was beyond 
that of any theatre. And what is best of all, many 
of them truly fear God, and some rejoice hi his sal- 
vation. These are a pattern to all the town. And 
this I must avow, there is not such a set of singers in 
any of the Methodist congregations in the three king- 
doms as in this town. There cannot be ; for we have 
near a hundred such trebles, boys and girls, selected 



THE SABBATH SCEIOOL TEACHER. 251 

Two points to bo insisted on. What Hymns shall be used in these schools 

out of our Sunday Schools, and accurately taught, as 
are not to be found together in any chapel, cathedral, 
or music room, within the four seas. Besides the 
spirit with which they sing, and the beauty of many 
of them so suits the melody, that I defy any to exceed 
it, except the singing of angels in our father's house." 
There are two points to be insisted on in teaching 
children in the Sabbath School to sing: viz. — that 
the vowels are to be pronounced clearly and distinctly, 
just as we pronounce them in speaking. If this be 
overlooked, and the vowels and consonants be run 
into each other, it will be singing in an unknown 
tongue. Great pains should be taken to have the 
enunciation clear and distinct. The other point is, to 
have them taught to place the emphasis right, so as 
to have the music correspond with the words. What 
is the object of singing, except to give the words more 
power and interest ? How can this object be accom- 
plished, except by attention to the emphasis ? This 
suggests another inquiry ; viz : what hymns shall be 
used in our Sabbath Schools? I shall speak with 
diffidence on this point, because there is a great diver- 
sity of opinion and practice, and because I am not 
perfectly satisfied that any of them are right. In very 
many schools, perhaps the majority in the land, 
Hymns are used, selected and arranged on purpose 
for Sabbath Schools, such as the Union Hymns and 
the like. The great advantage is thought to be, that 
in such a selection you can have a great variety 



252 THE SABBATH SCHOOL TEACHER. 

Description. Does the school need a very great variety of hymns? 

from which to select, and, that they are altered and 
rendered simple, and thus adapted to childhood. It 
is true, these two objects are gained ; hut I am not 
certain that it is not at too great an expense. By 
taking the prepared selection, you have variety, — a 
great variety ; but, do you not wish to have the child 
begin to sing the hymns, and from the book, which is 
used in the church, and from which he is to sing all his 
life, and thus have his earliest associations connected 
and linked in with what he will use in the house of 
God ? Can any hymn-book, — ought any hymn-book 
to be so dear to the associations and the heart, as 
that which is used in the house of God on the Sab- 
bath ? And then, as to the simplicity of the selected 
hymns, — I am aware of all that may be said in their 
favor ; but let me ask, if their simplicity is not prin- 
cipally effected by altering the most beautiful hymns 
in the English language, — such hymns as we have in 
all our churches on the Sabbath ? The child, in the 
Sabbath School, sings a hymn, say the Coronation 
hymn, " All hail the power of Jesus' name," as he 
finds it in the hymn-book prepared for the School : 
he goes to his father's pew, and hears the same hymn 
sung just as the author wrote it, without any altera- 
tion, — which is he to love, and with which is he to 
have the sweetest recollections of life associated ? 
to my own mind there cannot be a doubt but the 
warmest, deepest, tenderest associations of his heart 
should be associated with his worship in his father's 



THE SABBATH SCHOOL TEACHER. 253 

Three hints. 

pew. Let any one, who has grown up in the use of 
a hymn as it stands in our church singing-book, and 
one which he has sung all his life as it reads there, go 
into the Sabbath School and take up the same hymn 
altered, and see if he can take any enjoyment in 
reading it. I would with diffidence ask, too, if we 
are not under a mistake in supposing that a Sabbath 
School needs a very great variety and number of 
hymns ? How is it with the Christian, — is he ever 
tired of singing, " Come holy Spirit, heavenly Dove" ? 
— or its sister song, " Oh ! for a closer walk with 
God" 1 Do we not prefer in our sweetest meetings 
to sing over the songs which we know, the tunes 
which we know, because they recal other and dearer 
times, and are also pleasant now ? In teaching chil- 
dren to sing in the Sabbath School, then, I would 
offer the following hints ; viz. — 

1. To use the words of a hymn as it reads in the 
book used in the church, and which they will proba- 
bly use through life. 

2. To have the selection of hymns very limited, so 
that the whole school may soon learn them, and 
have them at their command. 

3. To be careful always to have the same tune and 
the same words used together. There are great ad- 
vantages in this. Children can learn only by repeti- 
tion, and tunes and words thus connected, always 
bring pleasurable associations to the mind. 

There are two methods of teaching a Sabbath 
22 



254 THE SABBATH SCHOOL TEACHER. 

Two methods of teaching music. Shall the Sabbath School be divided? 

School to sing ; the one is, by introducing the black- 
board and instructing the children as you would a class 
of adults by teaching them the notes. It seems to me 
that this is objectionable in that it takes much time, 
it seems to turn the school aside from the appropriate 
business of instruction, and it takes holy time for 
what ought to be learned during the week. I would, 
therefore, prefer to have the school taught to sing by 
the ear on the Sabbath, a few simple easy tunes, 
and to have provision made to have them regularly 
and thoroughly taught on some other day, to sing by 
note. 

If the reader shall feel that the above remarks 
are not very profound, he may be assured that they 
are offered with diffidence, and are thrown out more 
as hints upon a difficult subject, than as a guide. 
They claim nothing beyond what the common sense 
of each teacher would suggest. 

The question of singing brings up another subject 
intimately related to it, and one not so easy to dispose 
of to the satisfaction of all. I mean the question, 
shall the Sabbath School be divided, the males and 
females separated, and each sex be under its own Su- 
perintendent 1 It has been rather a growing fashion 
of late years, to have two distinct branches, in dif- 
ferent rooms, and under two different heads. The 
great advantages of the plan seem to be, that the 
girls are taken away from the corrupting example of 
the boys, — that the two branches are both more 



THE SABBATH SCHOOL TEACHER. 255 

Advantages of separating sexes. Disadvantages, — first and second reasons. 

quiet, orderly, more carefully watched, and more 
faithfully instructed. I am not sure that I shall be 
altogether popular in what I am going to say ; but 
those who disagree with me, will have good sense 
enough not to feel my arguments, unless they have 
weight. There will always be exceptions to general 
rules, and there will undoubtedly be exceptions to 
this ; but as a general thing, I should prefer to have 
the school altogether in one room, and under one 
Superintendent. I will offer my reasons as briefly 
as possible. 

1. In all the general features of Sabbath Schools, 
throughout the land, we had better have them alike, 
as far as possible, as simple as possible, and as con- 
venient as possible. It would be next to impossible 
to have this feature become general. But few 
churches have more than one place, or can provide 
more than one, and I should be unwilling to have the 
impression go abroad, that a Sabbath School may 
not be perfect with but one room. 

2. It seems to be the design of Providence that the 
sexes shall modify and benefit each other, even from 
infancy. Those families present the most delightful 
picture, in which the children are composed of both 
sexes. If they are all boys, they are rough, noisy, 
and need something to smooth down their roughness. 
If they are all girls, they need the buoyancy and 
strength of character which they acquire from asso- 
ciating with their more stormy brothers. It is so in 



256 THE SABBATH SCHOOL TEACHER. 

Third reason. Fourth reason. 

the Sabbath School. If you say that the girls 
suffer by being placed in the same room with the 
boys, I say unhesitatingly that the boys suffer 
without them. They will not be so spirited, so inte- 
rested, so mild, when taught by themselves. The 
girls may suffer some by being in the same school 
with the males ; but the boys will suffer very much 
where this is not the case. I have no need of try- 
ing to explain the philosophy of the thing ; but every 
one knows, that whatever may be the case with the 
female sex, our sex need the presence of females 
from the cradle to the grave, and there is no period 
in life, in the formation of our character especially, 
when we ought to be deprived of it. 

3. By being all in the same room, the Superintend- 
ent, the minister, or the stranger, can address them 
better. He will do it with more interest, more ani- 
mation, and more feeling. So of the devotional ex- 
ercises. Say what you will in commendation of a 
lady's powers, — say that she is better qualified to 
teach, is quicker, more interesting, more devoted and 
holy, — it is all true ; — but after all, she is not so well 
qualified to talk to a school, to make addresses, and 
to lead in prayer, as is the man. She is not, because 
God did not create her for this object. 

4. If the argument for separating the schools has 
weight, it must rest upon the supposition, that the 
habits of the children, their education at home, &c. 
have been such, that they would be injured by being 



THE SABBATH SCHOOL TEACHER. 257 

Fifth reason. Sixth reason. 

together. If this be so, such a school will need to be 
governed, — and governed, too, with no weak hand. 
In such a case, probably, it would require, to say the 
least, as much of government in each department, as 
in both, were they united ; because, a school com- 
posed of both sexes is vastly more easily governed, 
than the same number of either sex, by themselves. 
Now is a lady ready to go into a large school, — too 
rude to be associated with the males, — and govern 
it as it ought to be governed 1 Can she do it without 
sacrificing much of that gentleness and mildness, 
which woman can never sacrifice without loss ? 

5. By having the school all in one, the Library is 
much more accessible to all, more readily managed, 
and all have equal opportunities to obtain desirable 
books. 

6. The influence upon the teachers is decidedly 
good, when the schools are both in one. They study 
the lesson together, they feel the power of sympathy 
when hearing the lessons, there is more animation, 
life, and interest. I believe this will be found to be 
the experience of all who have long been engaged 
in Sabbath Schools. But in seasons of revival, when 
the Spirit of God is present, when there are awaken- 
ings, and conversions, — when you wish to act upon 
the whole, to use the principle of sympathy, and have 
the scholars act upon each other, it is of vast im- 
portance that the school be all in one room, under 

22* 



258 THE SABBATH SCHOOL TEACHER. 

Seventh reason. Account of a school in England. 

one head, one influence, and all led to the same 
place, — viz., the cross of Jesus Christ. 

7. It is desirable to have the schools both united 
in one for the sake of the singing. It is the order of 
nature that the voices of males and females be united 
in singing. Neither can accomplish the ends of sing- 
ing alone. Perhaps it may be said that the schools 
might be brought together once a day, at the close 
of the exercises, and thus all unite in singing. I re- 
ply, that this will be any thing rather than simple 
and easy, unless they are so located that folding 
doors only shall separate them, which will not be the 
case in many of our schools. That there are and 
must be disadvantages in both methods, there can be 
no doubt. If there are more dangers connected with 
having all the school in one, there are also more de- 
cided advantages. These remarks apply to schools 
generally ; but there is nothing essential to the par- 
ticular mode of managing them, without which they 
cannot succeed. 

An old gentleman from England gives me the fol- 
lowing account of a school which he raised up in 
that country. I quote it not more for the last 
sentence, than the whole account. " I commenced 
my school thirty years ago, all alone, with twelve 
children. If any were absent or late three succeed- 
ing Sabbaths from any other cause than sickness, he 
was dismissed and another was selected from the nu 
merous applicants, to take his place. When 1 thought 



THE SABBATH SCHOOL TEACHER. 259 

The Sabbath School scholar. 

it best, I raised the number to twenty-four, and 
finally to sixty, beyond which I would not go. As a 
teacher I stood alone for seven years, and with great 
opposition against the. school. Eight of my first 
twelve soon became my Bible-class. They were 
closely attentive during all their examinations, and 
they became teachers of their respective classes 
under my inspection as their superintendent. One 
of these eight is now a faithful and laborious minister 
of the Gospel, and the others were all early in life 
members of the church with which I was connected. 
Many of these sixty I have seen happy on their sick 
and dying beds, though some have gone on hardened 
and yet miserable in their iniquity. I once reproved 
a vain young man, a stranger whom I met in a pas- 
sage-boat, for profaneness. There was a solemn 
silence in the boat for ten minutes. Every eye was 
fixed on him, noticing the mental perturbation which 
was visible through his countenance. After this he 
said, * Ah ! Sir, if I had followed the advice which 
you used to give me in the Sabbath School, I should 
be a much happier man than I now am.' After in- 
forming me who he was, and giving me his history, 
he added, ' And there, Sir, (pointing to a box,) in the 
bottom of that box under a napkin, is every book 
which you ever gave me, and when by accident I 
lift up the cloth, they make me tremble.' 

" I have a few times in my life given a musical 
lesson as an encouragement and reward to the chil- 



2ti0 THE SABBATH SCHOOL TEACHER. 

Results of experience. Duty of teachers who cannot sing. 

dren, but it tends to dissipate the mind from the more 
important work before them, and I do not think that 
any good was ever produced by it. Teaching with- 
out notes is sufficient, and best for a Sabbath School." 

As to the number of times singing shall be intro- 
duced into the school, each set of teachers will decide 
for themselves. If the Superintendent can conduct 
it, he, by all means, should do it ; if he cannot, let 
him be careful to obtain the proper man to do it, and 
in every practicable way assist and encourage him. 

But there will be some teachers who are not sing- 
ers, — who cannot aid in this exercise ; what shall 
they do 1 How can they be expected to aid in pro- 
moting singing 1 I ask such if they do not wish they 
could sing? — if they would grudge any expense if 
they could, by it, only purchase the power of singing? 
Do they not regret that no one taught them during 
their childhood 1 Let them recollect that the blessing 
whose loss they so deeply mourn, may now be com- 
municated to the children. Let them spare no efforts 
to have all the children possess this high enjoyment. 
No efforts will result in greater effects. Children, 
when once taught, love to sing. Hardly any thing 
can add more to the enjoyment of a being, made up 
of affections and reason, as men are. 

One thing more. Some seem to feel that singing 
God's praises is beneath them ; that this part of divine 
worship may be left to hearts destitute of grace, and 
to lips never sanctified by prayer. I cannot but pro- 



THE SABBATH SCHOOL TEACHER. 2(Jl 

A common feeling which is wrong. 

test against this feeling. Let the theatre and the 
opera be under the control of the wicked, — let the 
songs of revelry and folly pass through the lips of the 
profane; — but shall the Christian, — the redeemed 
sinner, who hopes to sing the praises of redeeming 
love to all eternity in heaven, shall he refuse to sing 
of thpi love here on earth 1 The glorious church in 
heaven sing God's praises before the universe, and 
angels join in the songs, even ten thousand times 
ten thousand, — and shall it be, that Christians are 
above singing these praises here on earth ? Shame, 
shame to a love so cold a gratitude so dumb ! 



CHAPTER IX. 



CONNEXION OF THE MISSIONARY CAUSE WITH THE 
SABBATH SCHOOL. 

' How far the Sabbath School should be made a 
Missionary Society, or be used to aid the cause of 
missions, is an important, but a difficult question to 
answer. There are difficulties connected with it, 
unseen at the first glance. My own views can be 
briefly expressed, though I fear they will not be satis- 
factory to many whom I respect, and who may differ 
from me. 

I begin by saying that I do not think it advisable 
to organize our Sabbath Schools into regular mission- 
ary societies, temperance societies, education societies, 
&c. I am acquainted with some schools which have 
all these, with the addition of anti-slavery and colo- 
nization societies; and if the Christian community 
should be further divided into parties, would doubt- 
less have every party represented. It seems to me 
that the great object of the Institution is the Sabbath 



THE SABBATH SCHOOL TEACHER. 263 

One great principle to be observed. Reasons of this principle. 

School, and I should tremble to be the one who 
should turn it, or begin to turn it from its appropriate 
work. The object is to take children of all ages, 
conditions, habits, prejudices, and influences, to teach 
them the word of God, and to form their characters 
upon that word. There can be but one predominant 
object before a school, — and the rest must, of course, 
be subordinate. That predominant object should be 
to teach the Bible, and to lead the souls of the children 
to God. It must never be lost sight of. For example, 
if I am teaching my class to-day, the parable of the 
ten virgins, I wish no other object to come before the 
mind. I wish to teach that particular thing, so 
plainly, so clearly, and so forcibly, that it shall never 
be forgotten. My work for the day is to do this. 
Now I cannot do it, if the attention of the school is 
to be diverted, and if a part of the time they are to 
act as a missionary, a tract, a temperance, or any 
other society. Every teacher must feel that his object 
is nothing less than to see each of his pupils embracing 
Christ, and growing up in holiness. If a school be- 
comes a missionary society, and takes that character, 
that object becomes the predominant object, is more 
thought of, talked of, calculated upon, than any other 
object. Is this best 1 

Another thing. A Sabbath School whose great 
object is to be a missionary society, must be a small 
one ; because comparatively few parents feel an in- 
terest in missions. They are not willing that their 



264 THE SABBATH SCHOOL TEACHER. 

Broad ground to be maintained. Spirit of missions in the Sabbath School. 

children should be different from the rest of the 
school, and yet are not willing to aid them in contrib- 
uting. The result is, they either keep their children 
at home, or send them to some other Sabbath School. 
Sabbath Schools can fulfil the great object at which 
they aim, in no way so rapidly, surely, and pleasantly, 
as by keeping to their great object. By doing this, the 
world, the indifferent, the irreligious, and the profane, 
will entrust their children to their care. They will do 
less to counteract your instructions ; and the only cavil 
which the heart of malice can invent is, that you 
teach them the Bible. The institution is a broad one. 
It is to embrace all denominations, — frequently in the 
same school, and it must stand on broad ground. 
From this high position I would never have the insti- 
tution descend. I make these remarks with the more 
emphasis, lest those which are to follow shall have 
undue influence. 

But I would have the spirit of Missions always in 
the Sabbath School room. The very employment 
of the teachers is that of being domestic missionaries. 
They act in character only as they have the mission- 
ary spirit. They are laboring for the conversion of 
the world, and from this they can never turn aside ; — 
this they can never forget. They must, and they 
will, then, create more or less of the missionary at- 
mosphere around them. They will, and they ought 
to introduce the same spirit into the school, — ever 
bearing in mind,, that none but a regenerated heart 



THE SABBATH SCHOOL TEACHER. 265 

General views to be introduced. First view. 

can truly and deeply enter into the great work of 
converting the world to Christ. 

How far, then, should the subject be introduced, 
and what ground should it occupy ? 

It is evident at the very first view, that only gene- 
ral views, and the great subject of converting the 
world can be introduced ; for if you are to bring in 
each wheel of the machinery, and try to interest the 
school in sending missionaries abroad, sending Bibles 
and tracts, raising up ministers, and feeding the desti- 
tute with the bread of life, you have all the time 
consumed. I reply, then, 

1. That the school should be taught on the subject 
of missions, in connexion with the Bible. 

The Bible predicts a day in which the earth shall 
be converted to God. Prophets, apostles, and mar- 
tyrs prayed, rejoiced, suffered and died in view of 
such a day. The church of God at the present time 
expects it ; she prays for it ; the Lord's prayer anti- 
cipates it ; — and the church universal is now begin- 
ning to labor for this great object. She will not be 
disappointed, — the heathen will be given to Christ for 
his inheritance, and the uttermost parts of the earth 
for his possession. The school should be taught this 
from the Bible, — so plainly and clearly, that every 
child may see that we stand on right ground, and on 
an immovable position, when we labor and pray for 
the salvation of the earth. Let them be taught that 
we do not run without being sent; that we go by 
23 



266 THE SABBATH SCHOOL TEACHER. 

To be introduced in connexion with the Bible. Several hints. 

command, by direction, by the aid, the countenance, 
the promises, and the blessing of God. We cannot, 
shall not be disappointed. The millennial day will 
come. I feel that it is very important that this light 
be poured into the mind in early life ; that the child, 
as he grows up, may understand the great principles 
of action which govern the church of God, — that he 
may know how to defend them ; — that his confidence 
in them may be deep and unshaken, and that his 
sympathies, as far as possible, may be enlisted. How 
often such a lesson should be given out, each school 
will determine for itself. Perhaps once in two months 
will be sufficiently often. These recitations should 
always be in connexion with the Bible, and might be 
classified something in this way. 

(a.) How does the description of the Bible in re- 
gard to the heathen, correspond with their state at the 
present day ; and how does this state compare with 
that created by the full light and influence of the 
Gospel 1 

(b.) What does the Bible say is the only remedy 
for the condition of the world ; — and how does this 
correspond with the experience of men 1 

(c.) What were the results of the missions in the 
days of the Apostles, as they went among the hea- 
then ; and how do these results correspond with the 
effects produced by missionaries in our days ? 

(d.) What trials attended the preaching of the Gos- 
pel among the heathen in the apostolic days, and 



THE SABBATH SCHOOL TEACHER. 267 

These questions may be increased. Influence of such teaching. 

what trials in these times ? What trials and difficul- 
ties will always have to be encountered'? What 
inferences to be drawn in regard to our prayers and 
sympathies for those who are engaged in this work 1 

(e.) What part have children taken in the cause 
of religion, as mentioned in the Bible, and what have 
they to do in the work now before the church t 

(f.) What sacrifices does the Bible require of us 
in the work of converting the world to Christ, before 
we have done our duty ? 

Questions like these, to any extent, may be raised, 
and all founded on recitations in the Bible. They 
will be answered by a complete knowledge of what 
the church is doing at the present time for the salva- 
tion of the world. This plan, or something like it, 
will give the teacher a most admirable opportunity 
to contrast the condition of the heathen, and especially 
heathen children, with those who have the Gospel ; — 
to show the superiority and the divinity of the Gos- 
pel, and to impress the heart with a sense of obliga- 
tion and gratitude. The responsibility of the child 
who is born in the land of the Gospel, can be urged 
upon him with great force and power. It can, I have 
no doubt, be made a powerful auxiliary in leading 
the soul to submission, and conversion. 

2. The information communicated respecting 
modern missions, should be as definite as possible. 

" A mission in an unknown country has no local 
habitation for the mind to fix upon. It can awaken 



268 THE SABBATH SCHOOL TEACHER. 

Second view. The mind demands instruction to be definite. 

only a vague, uninteresting, transient perception : and 
the church will never enter heartily into a plan for 
Christianizing all nations, until it becomes acquainted 
with the geography of the world." 

If, for example, you have occasion to give an illus- 
tration of the principles of missions, — and there are 
some most admirable illustrations in it, — from the his- 
tory of the Greenland Mission, try as far as possible 
to make the child understand the Geography of the 
country, the climate, natural features, and all those 
deep shades of the picture which the hand of nature 
has put on. Let all the information be of this definite 
kind. It is impossible for the mind to be interested 
in any other way. It might be well, too, to have a 
committee, consisting of a few of the teachers, and 
as many of the older scholars, to correspond with 
some one or more missionary stations, to make inqui- 
ries respecting their school, their children, and their 
wants. I have seen a school thrilled by the reading 
of one such letter from a missionary station. There 
might be, if thought best, a special meeting of the 
school to hear the letters read ; and be sure to read 
the letters sent from the school, as well as the answers 
received, at the same time. May we not, if we have 
the true missionary spirit ourselves, do much towards 
creating and perpetuating a missionary spirit in our 
Sabbath Schools, and that, too, without an organization 
so distinct that it shall create prejudices in the minds 
of worldly people? Shall we not, also, go on the 



THE SABBATH SCHOOL TEACHER. 269 

Corresponding with missions. Third view. Suggestions and hints. 

principle, that our children are to become Christians, 
and ministers, and missionaries, and thus lead them 
to begin the work of sympathizing with the fallen 
world from their childhood ? I have no doubt but all 
this can, and might, and ought to be done ; and I 
pray that the spirit which baptized apostles, and all 
the " sacramental host of God's elect," may baptize 
the children of our Sabbath Schools. 

3. There ought to be a system of contributions for 
the spreading of the Gospel, introduced into every 
school. 

The object of introducing such a system is three- 
fold ; — to raise money by which to carry on the plans 
of the church, — very considerable sums, too, might 
easily be raised in our Sabbath Schools ; — to teach 
the children how to exercise benevolence, and of con- 
sequence, to acquire the habit of it, as every exercise 
will strengthen the habit, — and to teach the child to 
exercise self-denial in obtaining the money which he 
contributes. Every thing of this kind should be regu- 
lar and periodical ; and perhaps the plan of having 
a contribution brought in once every month, will be 
a good one. As far as possible, encourage the chil- 
dren to give the money which they have earned by 
some labor or self-denial. Show that you are inter- 
ested in their little contributions, and encourage them 
to feel that the smallest sum, given from right motives, 
is neither overlooked nor forgotten by the great Re- 
deemer. At the same time avoid making the impres- 
23* 



270 THE SABBATH SCHOOL TEACHER. 

A certain principle to be acted on. 

sion that giving in this way is piety, — because a child 
may bring his pennies, and yet carry the heart of a 
little Pharisee. Avoid, also, casting blame or censure 
upon a child who does not contribute, — at least till you 
know the reason. His parents may be too poor, — he 
may have no parents, or they may be unwilling to 
furnish the child with money, and he knows not how 
to earn any himself. I have known children make 
very great sacrifices to earn money, — others to endure 
great self-denial to obtain it, in order to contribute ; 
and I have known others whose feelings were cruelly 
and unnecessarily wounded when they could not con- 
tribute. Some teachers who have so far acquired 
the confidence of the class as to know the real situa- 
tion and disposition of each one, have hired such 
children as were unable otherwise to obtain money, 
to do little jobs for them, for which they have 
paid them, and thus the contributions of the teacher 
passed through the hands of his poor scholars. 

But every school should have regular, stated sea- 
sons of contributing, and an object to which the char- 
ity is applied so definite, and so tangible, that they 
can all see that the little stream of charity which 
takes its rise in their schools, does, indeed, flow into 
the great river, and swell its tide, and cause the 
waters to reach those who are perishing with thirst. 
As to the precise mode of doing this, every school 
will choose to have its own way and method. Go on 
the principle, — it is always safe and sure, never yet 



THE SABBATH SCHOOL TEACHER. 2/1 



Conclusion. 



been known to fail, — that God will never be indebted 
to his creatures for the smallest gifts to him ; he will 
reward them all, and return the cup full and running 
over ; and while I do not believe that a school or a 
child can do any thing like purchasing his own salva- 
tion with his contributions, I do, at the same time, 
believe that he is more likely to receive salvation, in 
consequence of such charity. Let them begin life, as 
if the service of God was to be the object of life, and 
see that it is the object of your life ; let them feel that 
in this life, we only begin to enter upon a service so 
glorious that the angel feels honored in being a ser- 
vant in its cause, — a service which brings peace of 
conscience here, — a support which is stronger than 
hope as we pass from time into eternity, and that it 
will lead to what more than fills the measure of our 
hopes, and more than satisfies the highest desires of 
the soul. 



CHAPTER X. 



DUTY OF THE CHURCH AND PASTOR TO THE 
SABBATH SCHOOL. 

I begin the remarks which I am about to offer on 
this subject by taking it for granted that every 
church will wish to have a Sabbath School under her 
immediate care, sympathy, and direction, and that 
she would be glad to know what her duties are, that 
she may perform them to the best advantage. Every 
church ought to know when she has performed her 
duties to the Sabbath School, and I shall esteem it 
no small happiness if I may be able to lay them 
plainly before her. 

There are certain errors which prevail extensively 
among our churches in connexion with the cause of 
Sabbath Schools, — errors which discourage the 
teacher, and frequently destroy not a little of the good 
which would otherwise flow from his labors. I wish 
briefly to specify some of these errors. 

272 



THE SABBATH SCHOOL TEACHER. 273 

First error, — instruction at home, not needed. 

First error ; that children who go to the Sabbath 
School do not need so careful instruction at home. 

It is far from being improbable that the day of 
Judgment will reveal the names of many who with 
the lips favored Sabbath Schools, and sent their chil- 
dren to them for the very purpose of throwing off 
the trouble and responsibility of religiously instruct- 
ing them at home. ' I need not talk with my child 
on the Sabbath on the subject of religion ; I need 
not try to bring his conscience under the light of the 
Bible ; I need not endeavor to gain his roving atten- 
tion with the view of fixing his thoughts on God and 
eternal things ; — especially I need not give him the 
opportunity to say by his looks, " my father, I do not 
see you bearing this holiness and showing it in your 
life, though you urge it upon me and profess it your- 
self;" — I need not take him alone and pray for him, 
and over him, — because — he goes to the Sabbath 
School. I am careful to have him go constantly, and 
he is there instructed in religion. If I also teach 
him, he will hear so much about religion, that he 
will be disgusted.' Such is the language of the heart, 
while the child is turned away from the father's 
table, and sent to find bread at the hand of strangers. 
Alas! for such cruelty. God has laid duties upon 
parents which they can neither throw off, nor dele- 
gate to others. The Sabbath School was designed to 
co-operate with parents, to aid them in training 
their children up for the service of God on earth, and 



274 THE SABBATH SCHOOL TEACHER. 



Parents cannot delegate instruction. 



for the rewards of this service in heaven. It cannot 
so take the place of parental instruction as to excuse 
the father or the mother from doing their duty. You 
can never know, till the light of eternity reveals it, 
how cruel it is to push the child from the bosom of his 
parent; and if he lives after that parent is gone, 
memory can never lead him to the spot, — the chamber 
in which his parents used to pray with him and teach 
him. The cultivation of the heart of the child will 
draw it out with love and reverence. That poor 
child who has no parents, finds in the Sabbath School 
a substitute for the kind and tender admonitions of 
parents ; and that child who has parents will find it 
an additional blessing. But the head of the family 
is the priest whom God hath placed there to minister 
to the temporal and spiritual wants of the little con- 
gregation, and woe to the family and woe to the 
church, when the Sabbath School shall supersede the 
religious instructions of the fire-side. When it shall 
be left to the teacher in the School to do the work 
of praying for the children and of instructing them, 
one of the most glorious, ends of the family relation 
will have been lost sight of, and one of the dearest 
privileges of the child will be destroyed, — that of be- 
ing led to God by his own parents. 

* Many seem to think that the responsibility is 
transferred from themselves to the teachers. When 
their children are committed to the school, their 
duty seems done. They hope and believe it is well 



THE SABBATH SCHOOL TEACHER. 275 

Second error, — throwing all the responsibility upon teachers. 

with their children, since they are enjoying Sabbath 
School instruction, — with what kind of fidelity or 
appropriateness they are unable to tell. But they 
indolently conclude, since they patronize the school, 
and their children are there, all is well. But no 
parent ought to be satisfied with this. He ought to 
have a personal acquaintance with this important 
business. He should be their principal instructor 
himself. 

Let every kind and every reasonable degree of in- 
fluence be thrown into the Sabbath School, but do 
not intrust to others the exclusive care of immortal 
minds. Burnish these precious jewels with your own 
hands. Transfer the responsibility of training them 
up for God to no mortal. None have a parent's 
heart to feel, — none a parent's account to render. 
And none, if they are what they ought to be, can do 
this work so well.' 

Second error ; throwing all the responsibility of 
the school upon the teachers. 

Some churches will do so much as to select and 
vote for a certain number of men and women to be 
teachers once a year. Others will not even do as 
much as this. All is left in the hands of the teachers. 
If the Pastor, amid all this apathy, is disposed to take 
hold and lift and aid the teachers, it is very well ; 
but if he is not so disposed, it is just as w 7 ell. Are the 
teachers in your school faithful 1 The church does 
not know; she only knows that they have all the 



276 THE SABBATH SCHOOL TEACHER. 

The church ought to know all about the school. 

work to do. Are the teachers qualified ? The church 
does not know ; she hardly knows who they are. 
Do they study the lesson and understand the Bible, 
or do they come, and yawn over the lesson, impa- 
tiently waiting to have the long hour of recitation over? 
The church does not know. Do the teachers meet 
and pray together for grace, and patience, and the 
qualifications which the Holy Spirit only can impart 1 
Do they read, — do they keep up with the times, — 
are the books in the Library such that they can re- 
ceive benefit from them 1 The church does not know. 
She never attends the meetings of the teachers, — 
never unites with them in prayer, and has only a 
genera] impression as to the popularity of the school. 
When asked to contribute, she feels that all that she 
does by way of giving money, is a kind of bounty to 
the teachers, and not for the benefit of the children, 
and the families of the whole congregation. This is 
a criminal course in a church. The interests, the 
immortal, undying interests of your children ought 
not thus to be put out of your hands and away from 
your knowledge. The whole church ought to meet 
with the teachers, to pray with them, to sympathize 
with them, and to share their burdens, and their dis- 
couragements. There is neither justice, nor mercy, 
nor the spirit of the Gospel in thus rolling off the 
burden upon the teachers, — a burden which no set 
of teachers whom I have ever seen, are competent to 
bear. 



THE SABBATH SCHOOL TEACHER. 277 

Third error,— inadequate views, &c. 

Sometimes a church will send a committee into the 
Sabbath School to examine it. This is a very little 
better than nothing ; but the whole church ought to 
be so well acquainted with it, that no committee can 
add to her information. 

Third error ; an inadequate sense of the import- 
ance of having good teachers. 

When teachers are to be selected, it is frequently 
the case, that the church look around to see, — not 
who is qualified, — but w 7 ho will do, taking the lowest 
possible standard by which to decide the question. 
One will be selected, not because he is the proper 
person, but because his father may think it strange 
if he be omitted ; another, because she belongs to a 
very respectable family, and it would be a pity not 
to have the influence of such families ; and a third, 
because he seems to sit so loosely upon his seat in 
this church that it becomes necessary to tie him by 
making him a teacher, lest he go somewhere else. 
Can a school be expected to flourish when its teachers 
are selected on such principles ? 

Blessed will that day be, when our young men and 
our young females shall make it a part of their edu- 
cation and thoughts while studying, to prepare them- 
selves to become Sabbath School teachers ; — and 
when a generation shall rise up who know how to 
reach the mind of children, because they were 
taught in the Sabbath School, and thus obtained their 
qualifications. As things now are, we are wofully 
24 



278 THE SABBATH SCHOOL TEACHER. 

Teachers must be trained up. 

deficient in good teachers. I speak this, not to re- 
proach, nor to blame any who are teachers. They 
shall have great credit for what they are doing ; but 
I know they are not so vain as not to be sensible that 
I am speaking nothing but the plain truth, when I 
say that our teachers, as a whole, are far from being 
properly qualified. Perhaps most of them have done 
the best they could, — we are thankful to them, and 
we regret that they are not better furnished. But 
why are they not abundantly qualified ? I put the 
question to every church, why are they not qualified 1 
And why are first-rate teachers so scarce 1 I reply, 
because the church has never yet felt this subject, 
nor attended to it. Heretofore, if a father gave his 
son any education, it was to enable him to read, and 
write, and keep his accounts, and thus get through 
the world. Perhaps he gave education sufficient to 
qualify him to teach a district school, or to enter a 
store as a clerk. But how few fathers and mothers 
have thought and planned and prayed over the edu- 
cation of their child, because they were anxious, that 
by this education, that child might be well qualified 
to be a Sabbath School teacher ! How common to 
have a committee selected who must carefully and 
thoroughly examine the man who proposes to teach 
a day-school, and yet, when the same children, who 
compose this week-day school, are gathered into the 
Sabbath School, and are to be instructed in the great 
concerns of religion, they may fall into the hands of 



THE SABBATH SCHOOL TEACHER. 279 

Fourth error, — inadequate views of the aids of the Sabbath School. 

any who may happen to be willing to take them. 
They may be Christians or not, they may be such as 
the child could not be entrusted with in a school on 
other days, or not. Is this right ? No, no, it is not. 
Teachers must be raised up in the bosom of the 
church. They ought to be pious, holy, devoted, 
patient, untiring, disinterested men. And the church 
can never do her duty to the Sabbath School, till 
she prays over this subject, makes it one object in 
the education of her sons and her daughters, to 
qualify them to become teachers in the Sabbath 
School. 

Fourth error : that of having inadequate views 
of the aid which a family receive from the Sabbath 
School, in training up their children. 

It may be that the early education of the pa- 
rents, their acquired habits, or their circumstances 
put it out of their power to teach their children to be 
punctual. And yet it is of unspeakable importance 
to the child that he have these habits. He is sent to 
the Sabbath School, and there he learns what 
punctuality is, and conforms to it. The machinery 
is put in motion at such a moment, and it closes at a 
particular moment, and multitudes of children have 
not only here obtained their first ideas of punctuality, 
but have here acquired the invaluable habit of being 
punctual. 

Is it of great consequence that your child have the 
spirit and the habit of subordination 1 Perhaps there 



280 THE SABBATH SCHOOL TEACHER. 

The influences of the Sabbath School in forming character. 

is far too little of family government under your roof. 
But your child can never govern himself, unless he 
be taught to obey now, while a child. In the Sab- 
bath School he has this discipline. Every week he 
submits his will to the will of his teacher, submits to 
restraints and to government. This is a great bless- 
ing to a child who is not sufficiently governed at 
home. And what is better than all, is, that children 
in the Sabbath School are subdued by the law of 
kindness. It is well known that a savage is softened 
by being taken and dressed up and for a few times 
introduced into genteel society. And can kindness 
and love, — disinterested love ever be brought to bear 
on a human being, and that being a child, without 
softening him 1 Never. And every week your child 
is chained down by the bonds of love. Do you wish to 
have your child disciplined, — I mean, to have his atten- 
tion arrested and frequently riveted, till he can hold his 
mind down to a single point ? The Sabbath School 
does this, and is a very powerful instrument by which 
to cultivate the power of attention. Do you wish to 
have the memory of your child strengthened and 
cultivated, so that he can compare and reflect, till he 
can, by himself, draw conclusions and correct in- 
ferences ? If well and properly taught, he learns to 
do this in the Sabbath School. You wish your child 
to have the power of manly and rational conversa- 
tion, so that when he talks, it shall be with propriety, 
without diffidence, or impudence. He learns how to 



THE SABBATH SCHOOL TEACHER 281 " 

Duties of the church. First duty, — understand the system. 

do this at the Sabbath School. You wish him to 
have a conscience that is cultivated, that he. may do 
his duty to man, and his duty to God, and thus walk 
in the path that leads to eternal life and glory. You 
would have him learn " what is the chief end of man," 
that his soul may at last be saved, and shine in the 
everlasting kingdom of God as the sun in the firma- 
ment forever and ever. The Sabbath School is 
pledged to aid you in all this. The better teachers 
that church brings into the school, the more prayer 
she throws around it, the more intense interest she 
takes in this young garden of the Lord, the more is 
she doing to aid every family in training up their 
children for the honors and rewards of heaven. And 
the father who understands the subject, will see that 
it is a most wise and wonderful instrument by which 
he may be aided in the great work of leading his 
children to God. Every effort of his will be seconded, 
every impression which he makes will be deepened, 
and every prayer which he offers for the salvation 
of his child will find a response from the teacher. 

T must now turn to the consideration of the 
duties which the church owes to the Sabbath School. 

1. The system ought to be thoroughly understood 
by every church. 

Let me lean to the side of charity ; and I think I 

can do that while I say that many who patronize the 

Sabbath School, and who speak well of it, seem to 

feel as if it were something in which they have little 

24* 



282 THE SABBATH SCHOOL TEACHER. 

Responsibility in this respect. 

or no interest. It is a kind of appendix to the Sab- 
bath, — a very good thing indeed, since it keeps the 
children from being at play, or relieves them from the 
wearisomeness of the Sabbath, and it furnishes the 
teachers with something by which to occupy their 
thoughts and their time. I am not sure that many 
might not be found even in the ranks of teachers whose 
views of the subject are such, that they would draw 
back the hand at once, were it not that they can do 
the work on the Sabbath, and thus not lose any time 
which is so precious to devote to business or to the 
world. Would it not be so, that but few of these 
schools would be kept in operation, even if all the 
children would attend them, were the teachers under 
the necessity of doing the work on any other day 1 
Is this a true and correct estimate of the value of 
the system ? 

All allow that before Sabbath Schools were so 
multiplied, it was a good thing in the minister to 
meet, catechise, and instruct the children under his 
charge : all allow too, that the Sabbath School is a 
much more valuable way of educating the rising 
generation for God, inasmuch as a whole church can 
do more for her children than a single mind can do. 
It follows, then, that if Sabbath Schools could not be 
held on the Sabbath, they ought to be held some day 
during the week, and the church ought to do the 
work. But have our churches such views of this 
subject ? Do they feel, and try to make all around 



THE SABBATH SCHOOL TEACHER. 233 



Peculiar benefits of the Sabbath School hardly appreciated. 

feel, that it is, next to the ministry, by far the 
mightiest lever put into the hands of God's people, 
by which to raise the world 1 Some will praise the 
system, perhaps contribute a part of a dollar annually 
for its benefit, perhaps now and then step into it ; but 
they do not understand its design, its power, or its 
usefulness. They do not know how it is a grand im- 
provement upon the old system of education, when 
the children of the church were suffered to grow up 
almost without religious instruction and religious im- 
pression ; and when the field ought to have been bring- 
ing forth fruit, it was found to be full of tares. Weep- 
ing parents often bent over their unconverted children 
in anguish, and cried, " an enemy hath done this ;" but 
they overlooked the grand secret, that the ground 
must be preoccupied. * It is now beginning to be 
found that it is easier and wiser to preoccupy than to 
dislodge ; that it is infinitely important that the soul 
should hear the voice of God, before the syren song 
of the great deceiver.' This system gives the child 
the solemn voice of a powerful guardian, and thus 
hushes the voice of temptation, and breaks the charms 
that would delude and seduce. It holds a brazen 
shield over the immortal being even from his child- 
hood, against the fiery darts of the wicked one. It 
holds the misguided youth even when driven by the 
winds of temptation from rushing off the precipice 
into the gulf of despair. 



284 THE SABBATH SCHOOL TEACHER. 



Second duty, — speaking well of teachers. 



2. The church ought to be careful to speak respect- 
fully and affectionately of the teachers. 

You send your child to the Sabbath School. He 
watches you to know why you send him, and what 
you think of the school. Perhaps, as parents, you 
give your approbation to the school ; but it is that 
languid, heartless approbation, which is worse than 
silence. ' They are friendly to the cause. They can 
use freely the language of approbation ; but the heart 
is not in it. There is no deep emotion on the subject. 
The head is indeed near the equator, but the heart 
is at the poles. A man's tongue may be loose, while 
his soul is ice-bound. The lack is not that of praise, 
but of self-denying energy. They are not prepared 
to encounter the obstacles in bringing the influence 
of the Sabbath School over their children. If suita- 
ble apparel is not provided, no pains are taken to fur- 
nish it. If a little reluctance is manifested by the 
children, the question of their staying at home is 
easily settled in their favor. They are not strongly 
and earnestly urged to this duty. This languor and 
indifference are imbibed by the children : their attend 
ance on the Sabbath becomes a mere whim. They 
are their own masters. There is no steady, strong, 
decisive parental influence. The children, when they 
come to the school, have the family likeness, and are 
as cold and uninterested there, as are their friends at 
home. Thus do parents multiply the sorrows of the 



THE SABBATH SCHOOL TEACHER. 285 

Great care needed on this point. 

faithful teacher, and thus do they lay up a fearful 
account to be rendered at last for the consequences.' 

You know a teacher in the school, perhaps more 
than one, of whom you do not think very highly. He 
is not qualified for his station. But whose fault is it ? 
The church have put the best in the office to be 
found ; and till you have done all within your power 
to raise up good teachers, you ought not to complain. 
Now will you destroy the whole influence of that 
school over your child, by your prejudices, your un- 
kind remarks, — by your uncharitable insinuations, by 
your unmanly, as well as unchristian thrusts'? No 
child goes to the Sabbath School without knowing 
precisely w : hat his parents think of the school, and 
of his teacher in particular. A few words incau- 
tiously dropped, a few improper remarks, may coun- 
teract all that can be done for your child at school, 
and perhaps ruin his soul forever. What shall you 
do? Would I have you speak well of a teacher, 
when you do not think well of him, and thus play 
the hypocrite before your child ? No. But I would 
have you think well of the teacher, believe that he 
does the best he can ; and remember that if the 
teachers are not qualified, it is a matter of humilia- 
tion to you that you have not labored and prayed 
more to raise up good teachers. 

Besides, the teacher is doing the work of the pa- 
rent, — he is doing the hardest, most difficult and 
responsible work of the parents every week; he is 



286 THE SABBATH SCHOOL TEACHER. 

Third duty, — aiding the child to get the lesson. Examples of discouragement. 

trying to aid you without fee or reward, and will you, 
can you throw so much responsibility upon him, and 
then add insult to ingratitude, and do all that you can 
to crush his hopes of usefulness, and destroy all his 
means of doing good to your child 1 

3. The child ought to have the assistance of his 
parents at home in understanding the Sabbath 
School lesson. 

The lesson of the Sabbath School is, or ought to 
be, short. It is almost uniformly on some interesting, 
useful, instructive, and practical part of the Bible. 
Every member of the church ought to study so much 
of the word of God every week, as to obtain a full, 
clear, and thorough knowledge of this single lesson. 
No man can hope to grow in a knowledge of the 
Scriptures, who does not do as much as that. For 
their own improvement, then, every man, woman, 
and child, ought to study the lesson of the Sabbath 
School. But what is the fact ? Excepting those who 
are compelled to study in consequence of being 
teachers, how few even try to keep up with the chil- 
dren in the Sabbath School ! 

Your child comes into the room with his Bible in 
his hand to get his lesson ; he has no helps but his 
question-book. He soon comes to a question which 
he cannot answer. He looks up. His mother is too 
busy to give him her eye. He asks a question, and 
is told, in a cold, indifferent tone, * I don't know any 
thing about it,' — or, ' don't trouble me now,' — or, * I 



THE SABBATH SCHOOL TEACHER. 287 

Example of a family who do right. 

wish you would go into your room, and study your les- 
sons by yourself,' or, 6 you must ask your teacher, it 
is not my business to teach you the lesson/ — or, ' you 
will have it all explained to you, I presume, on the 
Sabbath.' That child must be very remarkable in- 
deed, who, under such circumstances, can help feeling 
discouraged. On the contrary, let the child see that 
his parents know, that his parents honor the lesson, 
that they will study it with him, and will aid him to 
understand it, and he stands on very different ground. 
The following beautiful picture of what I could wish 
every family to be, is so appropriate, that I do not 
think my reader will regret to see it. It is a true 
narrative. 

* It was Saturday evening when 1 arrived at the 
house of my friend, in a retired village in Massachu- 
setts. The family had just risen from the table, and 
the little ones were retiring to rest, when one of the 
elder children requested their mother's permission to 
attend the teacher's meeting that evening.' 

" The rain will prevent a meeting to night," replied 
her mother, " but we will not be denied the privilege 
of studying the lesson." 

Accordingly, the table was soon covered with 
books, and surrounded by the happy family. 

" This is our usual custom," said the mother, " when 
the weather deprives us of the assistance of our min- 
ister, whose kind instructions have for many years 



288 THE SABBATH SCHOOL TEACHER. 

Illustration continued 

greatly assisted the teachers in their benevolent 
work." 

I declined an invitation to join the interesting cir- 
cle, but was a highly gratified spectator. Here were 
the father and mother, with three lovely children, 
together with a modest young woman residing in the 
family, with their Bibles open. Each one was ques- 
tioned in turn, references were found and impressively 
read, maps consulted, and the Bible Dictionary often 
referred to. The intelligent and unrestrained ques- 
tions of the children, clearly manifested that it was 
no new employment. The Bible seemed to them not 
only a familiar, but a beloved book. While looking 
at this animated scene, my mind unconsciously glanced 
back over a period of sixteen years, which I have 
been permitted to spend as a Sabbath School teacher, 
and I could not but reflect, oh ! had I thus been aided 
by Christian parents, cheerful and effectual had been 
my labors, where now, I fear, they were lost ! 

After the lesson was concluded, family prayer 
offered, and the children had retired, the following 
conversation took place. 

" I am delighted to find your children engage with 
so much pleasure in studying the Bible. How have 
you managed to make it so agreeable V 

" We have never found any difficulty in making 
the word of God a pleasant study. In the first place, 
my little children are taught many of its stories be- 
fore they can read. And as soon as they become 



THE SABBATH SCHOOL TEACHER. 289 

Illustration continued. 

Sabbath scholars, we make it a point to study the 
lesson with them. I believe they were never sent 
away to get it by themselves ; this would seem too 
much like a task. Either one or both of us always 
take the lesson and show them that we cannot be 
denied the privilege. We ask, and in our turn an- 
swer the question, talk over the scene, imagine our- 
selves in the very spot, and endeavour as much as 
possible to interest and impress our young scholars. 
This is done on Saturday evening, or Sabbath morn- 
ing. But there is another method adopted by their 
mother, which I think still better. Every morning 
during the week after family prayer and breakfast, 
the children have always been accustomed to read 
with her a chapter, which is talked over in the same 
way. Questions are continually arising while it is 
read, and thus the habit is formed, of daily reading 
the word of God with pleasure and attention" 

" Your method is certainly a very simple one, and 
how easily might every Christian parent adopt it !" 

" Yes, for although the Holy Spirit alone can take 
of the things of God and show them to our dear 
children, yet I am confident that parents can do much 
to render this blessed volume a precious book to their 
children. If with a countenance beaming with plea- 
sure, they would say, ' come, let us read it together, 
my children,' instead of assigning it as a daily task to 
be run over alone, the time might not be distant when 
it would be to both better than " gold, even fine gold, 
25 



290 THE SABBATH SCHOOL TEACHER. 



Fourth duty, — give countenance. 



sweeter than honey and the honey-comb ;" and I 
think it would essentially aid you, who are Sabbath 
School teachers, for I know you must have your 
trials as well as your pleasures, and many of the 
trials must arise from the negligence of parents. God 
forbid that such negligence be laid to Christian pa- 
rents, and yet is it not a sad truth, that the children 
of many of them have not learned to esteem this 
holy book as their necessary food? 

Alas ! why is it that many parents prefer that the 
teacher explain the lesson to their children, or that the 
minister explain it from the pulpit, or that it go 
unexplained, to becoming scholars themselves and 
aiding their children to understand it? Let those 
of my readers who are parents, pursue the course 
followed by the parents, as described above, only 
for a single term of three months, and if at the 
end of that period they do not feel that they and 
their children are abundantly benefited, then I 
will neither venture to prophesy again, nor be a 
troublesome reprover of their negligence, and criminal 
neglect of their offspring. 

4. It is the duty of the church to give her counte- 
nance, support, and interest to the school ; and if 
possible, every member should have something to do 
with it, either as a teacher or a scholar. 

The Library should be revised, enlarged by new 
books, and the church ought to do it cheerfully and 
abundantly. The parents ought to take particular 



THE SABBATH SCHOOL TEACHER. 291 

Whole congregation to be brought in. 

pains to read the books of the Library, for their own 
improvement, for an example to their children, and 
in order to be able to talk with their children about 
the books which they read. Many occasions in 
reading these books would undoubtedly arise, by 
which deep and lasting impressions might be made 
on the memory and on the heart. Truths might be 
pressed upon the conscience under circumstances 
which would cause them to abide in consequence of 
the associations with which they are indissolubly con- 
nected. 

Besides, if the church were to do her duty, almost 
all of the congregation would be connected with the 
Sabbath School in some relation or other. In some 
of our congregations this is already the case. I could 
mention several village-congregations in New Eng- 
land in which the Sabbath School numbers between 
five and six hundred, or nearly all of the congrega- 
tion. These are the most interesting schools I have 
ever seen. I have seen a class of old ladies, — pro- 
bably all over fifty years of age, who sat down to the 
recitation of the lesson with as much interest as any 
class of children could. I do not intend to say that 
all, without exception, can do so. Mothers with young 
children cannot, and fathers sometimes cannot be 
connected with the Sabbath School. But these cases 
are exceptions to the rule, when I say, that the 
church and congregation can profitably belong to the 
school. How often do we hear people lamenting that 



292 ' THE SABBATH SCHOOL TEACHER. 

Objections to this course considered. 

they could not have enjoyed the benefits of the Sab- 
bath School when they were children ! Do they for- 
get that they can now go, and enjoy all these bene- 
fits 1 Do they forget that the Sabbath School would 
actually do them more good now than when they 
were children 1 But it is hard to begin now, they 
cannot bring themselves up to the point of doing it. 
I ask, if it be so hard for you, who profess to love 
the Bible, who love religion, who feel your need of 
light and instruction, if it be so hard for you to study 
the Bible, what must your children suffer in doing it 1 
They do not profess to love the Bible : they do not 
feel their need of its light and instructions, — and yet 
you feel that it is their duty to go to the Sabbath 
School. May I ask a plain question 1 Is it not pride 
which prevents you from belonging to the Sabbath 
School ? I ask it, because I have known many who 
wished the privilege of being at the teachers' meet- 
ing with a view of hearing the lesson explained, who 
could not be induced to belong to the School itself. 

It is impossible for any mind, not absolutely un- 
balanced by disease, not to be benefited by studying 
and talking about the word of God. I could wish to 
see all our congregations belonging to the Sabbath 
School. Good rooms should be provided, and the 
adult classes, by all means, should be separated from 
the children. It is from negligence of this simple 
rule that so many attempts to induce the whole con- 
gregation to unite in the Sabbath School have failed. 



THE SABBATH SCHOOL TEACHER. 293 

Conveniencies needed for this plan. Example of bad influence of church. 

It is in vain to try to have all in the same room. But 
different rooms can be provided, the adult classes can 
each select their own teacher, and the object so de- 
sirable can be accomplished. In the Tabernacle in 
New- York, they have a room for each adult class 
separate from the rest, — an admirable plan. But 
you can never expect a congregation to come into the 
system, if the church stands aloof. They cannot be 
induced to give up their conversations, and their rest- 
ing seasons, if the people of God refuse to do it. Few 
have any conception of the sins which are committed 
on the Sabbath by the tongue. I was once acquainted 
with a devoted Superintendent who had one of the 
fullest and most prosperous schools. One Sabbath 
morning he went out to get in the wandering, strag- 
gling boys who did not come into their several classes. 
He found two groups of boys standing under different 
horse-sheds, listening to the conversation of two 
groups of professors of religion. On coming up he 
found them in quite animated conversation, the one 
discussing the price of wood, and the other computing 
the prices of rye, in a season in which the crops had 
fallen short! These were members of the church 
talking together, and the children had run away from 
their Sabbath School to listen to them ! When the 
Superintendent kindly stated these facts to the church, 
though no names were called, these individuals were 
highly offended. Can any faithfulness on the part 
of the Superintendent or teacher cause the children 
25* 



294 THE SABBATH SCHOOL TEACHER. 

Fifth duty, — to pray for conversion of school. 

to love the school, so long as members of the church 
do thus 1 

5. It is the duty of the church to pray and labor 
for the immediate conversion of the children in the 
Sabbath School. 

Perhaps it is sometimes the case that the church 
feel that if the teachers were Judges, Rulers, or Minis- 
ters of the Gospel, or were filling some high and re- 
sponsible station, they should be made the objects of 
prayer ; but as it is, they are only teachers in the 
Sabbath School, and it is of little consequence. But 
do not forget that every prayer that you offer for the 
teacher, is a prayer for the salvation of your child 
placed under his care ; that the truth of God may 
impress his heart, and that thereby he may be made 
wise unto eternal life. You wish that your child may 
drink in the pure truth and in right proportions ; 
then ask God that the teacher may have wisdom so 
to teach him. Pray that he may be a pious man, a 
holy man. Arguments from the wants and condition 
of your child press you to add your prayers with 
those of the teacher, and that too daily, in the closet, 
at the family-altar, and especially on the morning of 
the holy Sabbath. 

The Bible and our own observation abundantly 
show us that children can be converted at a very 
early age. Multitudes of such cases might be ad- 
duced. The most eminent men who have ever 
lived for God and for the salvation of the world, have 



THE SABBATH SCHOOL TEACHER. 21)5 



Piety in the young beautiful. 



been converted in the morning of life. Children may 
thus early be brought in, — they ought to be. The 
church ought to pray for it, — to labor for it. I have 
more than once had the pleasure of welcoming to 
the table of Jesus Christ, those who were under 
twelve years of age. They were like the early, 
small stars of evening, — very small, but pure and 
bright and beautiful. They held on their way too, 
gloriously. I have not half the fears that a converted 
child will dishonour religion, that I have that the 
aged sinner, who has lived in the iron habits of sin 
for half a century, will do it. With him it is the work 
of life and death to break off those old habits. His 
thoughts, wicked and vile, will, ever and anon, flow 
back into the old, deep-worn channels. But piety in 
the child gushes up like the breaking out of a new 
spring, making its own new channel, growing, and 
widening, and beautifying as it flows. The Bible 
has promised that the time shall come, when the 
child shall die an hundred years old. It can be 
brought about. Every church must aim to bring it 
about in regard to the children committed to her, 
whom she places in the Sabbath School. Most 
stupid, negligent, and guilty will she be, if she does 
not gird herself to this work. Oh ! were I to take 
my choice for helpers in the labors of the kingdom 
of Jesus Christ, I would rather have a church com- 
mitted to me, made up of converted children from 
the Sabbath School, and thus trained up for the ser- 



2.96 THE SABBATH SCHOOL TEACHER. 



Sixth duty, — duties of the minister. 



vice of God, than to have a church of a thousand 
members, formal, stiff, cold and barren as the aged 
oak. Blessed is the man who shall be the instrument 
of the conversion of a single child ; he adds a bright 
star to the moral heavens. Here must we raise up 
our pillars, here our polished stones, here our strong 
men, and here those who, on seraph- wing, will hasten 
to declare the name and love of Christ to the very- 
ends of the earth. 

6. The ministers of the Gospel should make the 
Sabbath School an important part of their pastoral 
charge. 

Ministers have done much to rear up and sustain 
the institution of the Sabbath School. That they 
have not done more, and all that might be reasona- 
bly expected of them, I impute in part to the pres- 
sure which this age brings upon them, and partly to 
the fact that they have never examined to see pre- 
cisely on what ground they should stand in regard to 
it. I do not believe any deficiencies on their part 
which might be pointed out, are the result of de- 
sign. 

Almost every Sabbath School contains hundreds 
of children, in the morning of their being, open to 
the best impressions, and rapidly forming characters 
which will abide with them forever. These hundreds 
of immortal beings are placed in the hands of some 
thirty or forty teachers, — the best probably to be ob- 
tained : but all the minister is supposed to know of 



THE SABBATH SCHOOL TEACHER. 297 

Reasons for minister to make it a part of pastoral duties. 

them is, that they are members of his church, and 
are people of common abilities. I ask now, if he 
would be willing to have as many adults taken from 
his pastoral charge, and once a week instructed in 
religion by those of whom he knows nothing, except 
that they are professors of religion ? Would he be 
wise, or safe, judicious or justifiable in so doing 1 I 
think not. But are not these children as liable to be 
led wrong, biassed wrong by any want of judgment 
or piety on the part of the teachers, as the adult 
part of the congregation would be ? It seems to me 
that the Pastor ought to know, intimately know who 
and what the teachers are, how they teach, what 
they teach, and what impressions they are making. 
Each teacher has some six or eight children com- 
mitted to him, and he can teach them and form their 
characters as no other human being can. Ministers 
may preach well, eloquently, learnedly, and power- 
fully ; but in the pulpit, they reach not the child. All 
goes over him. But the teacher can reach him and 
make impressions and aid in forming his character 
every Sabbath. Were it only for the safety of the 
individual church, the minister ought to become deep- 
ly interested in the Sabbath School. But more. Let 
the teachers be neglected, let them pick up know- 
ledge as they are able here and there, let them 
teach error and feed from the vine of Sodom, and 
pluck clusters from the vineyard of Gomorrah, and 
we have a power growing up which is irresistible. 



298 THE SABBATH SCHOOL TEACHER. 

Teachers need and wish the aid of ministers. 

Our churches are already in the hands of Sabbath 
School teachers. They give character and create 
the fashions and feelings of our churches. Let them 
believe and go wrong, and we cherish an infant Her- 
cules whose club will shortly be used in beating and 
killing his own mother. Teachers must be taught, 
indoctrinated, that they may feel that the ground on 
which they tread is firm, and that their path is 
through light and under sunshine. If our teachers 
are not held responsible for what they do and what 
they teach, to the Pastor and to the church, woe be 
to the hopes of stability in the walls of our Zion. In 
order to meet the case, the minister must not be cold, 
formal, indifferent, but his heart must warm over the 
school as over his own children. The safety of our 
churches, their stability, permanency, order, purity, 
knowledge, all, under God, depend upon the charac- 
ter of our Sabbath Schools. That character cannot 
be what it should and must be, if there is any defi- 
ciency on the part of our ministers. 

Teachers are men, — good men, I will suppose, — 
but men who want improving, enlightening, and in- 
structing. They are ready to admit this. Left to 
themselves, they grow discouraged, and droop. They 
do as well as they can. The minister and the church 
stand off, they receive no countenance, no encourage- 
ment, no sympathy. They bring such explanations 
of Scripture as their limited means will allow, and 
thus each one explaining and teaching in his own 



THE SABBATH SCHOOL TEACHER. 299 

Can have time. 

way, they plod on from year to year. Is this right ? 
Ought not the minister to meet his teachers once a 
week as a father, — feel that they are colleagues with 
him in aiding him to take care of the lambs, — in- 
struct them in the lesson which they are to teach the 
ensuing Sabbath, giving them his warm sympathy 
and co-operation ? Ought not the Sabbath School to 
be made an integral and an important part of his 
pastoral charge, so that the minister shall feel that 
he is to be the guide of the teachers, and that he is 
to keep the church awake and alive to the interests 
of the school, — that he is to do what he can, to 
create an interest in the parents, in the congregation, 
and in all classes of his charge, so that it shall be 
cherished by all as the dearest boon committed to 
the church 1 If it is said that he has not time for all 
this, I answer, it be true ; — but he must take time. 
There is no part of his work that is more important 
than this. He had better have fewer weekly meet- 
ings, make fewer pastoral visits, than to neglect the 
School. 

I cannot dismiss this topic without once more urging 
that the Pastor meet his teachers once a week, and 
instruct them in the lesson. They woftld gladly have 
him the fountain whence they draw their knowledge, 
and by him they are willing to have their opinions 
shaped. They feel, too, their need of mental discipline, 
their poverty of thought or illustration, and especially, 
they feel their inability to obtain and grasp those 



300 THE SABBATH SCHOOL TEACHER. 

Ministers should meet teachers weekly. 

great principles and views of the whole plan of re- 
demption which are so desirable, and which, once 
obtained, give a religious teacher such power. Min- 
isters do not get this great system fully before the 
mind till after years of study. Is it any wonder that 
teachers cannot? The doctrines of the Bible, the 
great foundation-stones of the moral temple, are what 
they want to measure and examine, to lay their 
hands upon, to rest their hopes upon, and by which 
they wish to teach better. The Pastor only can 
thus instruct them. 

By meeting the teachers weekly, too, the minister 
would preach better ! And how ? Because he would 
be continually studying to simplify truth, and thought, 
and language, so that the children may understand 
what is taught them. In this way he will preach 
with more simplicity, more nature, more ease, more 
directness, and more illustration. So great a part 
of his instructions will not go over the heads of his 
hearers. 

I plead for this close connexion between Pastor and 
school, once more, because it will create a strong, a 
sweet, and a delightful tie between the Pastor and 
his flock. The children will feel that their privileges 
are great, because the minister of God is so frequently 
present, and takes so deep an interest in the school. 
The teachers feel that they labor not in vain ; and 
that however discouraging their prospects may be, 
there is one heart that will never grow cold, never lose 



THE SABBATH SCHOOL TEACHER. 301 

Conclusion. 

its sympathy for them. The parents will feel that the 
piety and the intelligence of the church are enlisted 
in behalf of their children, and will be encouraged to 
co-operate. The church will feel that she must go with 
her leader, and will gather her sympathies around 
the vineyard of the Lord ; and the minister himself 
will feel that when no success attends his labors, he 
has a cohort in his church, who, by experience, have 
learned what it is to labor in vain, and who will not 
be backward to sympathise with him. And when the 
holy man of God dies, there will be tears from the 
eyes of those in the Sabbath School room who have 
looked upon him as their best friend. 
26 



CHAPTER XI. 



ENCOURAGEMENTS TO FAITHFULNESS. 

Discouragements are inseparable from every at- 
tempt at being useful. I had thought of devoting 
this chapter to the consideration of those which 
attend the faithful teacher in the Sabbath School. 
But they need not be pointed out, nor dwelt upon. 
They will come of their own accord ; but the wisest 
way is to think as little of them as possible, and to 
resolve that they shall never retard or stop our efforts. 
The world is at war with the kingdom of holiness, 
and in whatever shape effort is made to reclaim it 
from the dominion of the prince of the power of the 
air, there will be obstacles and difficulties. Ever 
since the first promise that the seed of the woman 
should crush the serpent's head, it has been so. It is 
a part of the moral discipline through which the 
people of God must pass. No class of active, de- 
voted Christians has ever met with so much opposi- 
tion, as did the Apostles and early Christians. But 



THE SABBATH SCHOOL TEACHER. 303 

Persecution of the Apostles. 

they neither stopped nor turned aside for such oppo- 
sition. 

" About one hundred and twenty disciples, after the 
death of their master, were gathered together for 
prayer, and the Holy Spirit descended upon them ; 
and then they all spake with tongues, and preached 
the Gospel to the people of many different languages. 
The consequence was a great excitement : a crowd 
collected ; some mocked, and then Peter preached to 
them a sermon, with an application, and three thou- 
sand were converted. Then they had time enough 
for prayer and religious duties, and money enough for 
benevolent purposes ; for each " sold his possessions, 
and parted them to all men as every man had need, 
and continued daily with one accord in the temple." 
Then the lame man was healed ; a crowd collected ; 
Peter preached another sermon with an application, 
and five thousand were converted. The High Priest 
and nobles are alarmed and indignant at all this ex- 
citement ; they seize Peter and John, and demand of 
them by what authority they did so ; and then Peter 
preached the Gospel faithfully to the High Priest and 
nobles. The Apostles are commanded to hold their 
peace, are threatened and dismissed ; and they imme- 
diately return to their work of preaching to the peo- 
ple. Again they are seized and imprisoned ; but an 
angel releases them, and they continue to preach. A 
third time they are taken and beaten ; but they re- 
joice that they are counted worthy to suffer; and 



304 THE SABBATH SCHOOL TEACHER. 

Supposed consultation. 

without delay resume their work. The excitement 
spreads and increases, Jerusalem is filled with their 
doctrine, the opposers are in great perplexity what 
measures to take to stop it; till at length, in a 
paroxysm of popular fury, Stephen is seized and 
stoned to death. 

Here we may suppose there was a pause. The 
disciples probably met to consider what should be 
done, and to pray for divine guidance. Imagine them 
assembled, many countenances indicating anxiety and 
alarm. At length one speaks : ' Oh ! the torrents of 
ridicule with which we are assailed ! How shall we 
ever stand before it 1 Another remarks, ' I can bear 
the ridicule very well ; but they tell such falsehoods 
about us, they will utterly ruin our reputation, and 
destroy all our influence among the people !' A third 
feels it most deeply that they should be hated for the 
good which they were doing, and that these false- 
hoods are invented to make them odious on account 
of their usefulness. A fourth cannot bear the thought 
of being charged with wrong motives, and having all 
his efforts charged to the desire of building up a party. 
A fifth feels himself disheartened because their success 
is principally confined to the poor, that none of the 
great, and the rich, the priests and nobles, lend them 
their name and influence, but do all in their power 
to crowd them down. A sixth is disturbed that there 
should be so much noise and excitement, such a 
tumult that there can be no living in the city, if 



THE SABBATH SCHOOL TEACHER. 305 

The true spirit of primitive Christianity. Reasons for faithfulness. 

these efforts should go on. Another regrets the dis- 
union of families occasioned by their preaching, and 
another points to the blood of Stephen, and hints at 
a little more prudence, lest they should all be massa- 
cred together. 

Now what shall they do in all this trouble 1 They 
kneel down and pray together; they continue for 
some time earnestly engaged in the exercise ; and the 
clouds begin to clear away, the heaviness is removed 
from their heart, they are in an entirely different 
atmosphere. Now one and another begin to recoil 
lect the words of Christ, how he had foretold that all 
this would happen in just this manner ; — how he had 
commanded, warned, and encouraged them; pro- 
mised them a mansion in his Father's house ; he had 
gone to prepare a place for them, and send the Com- 
forter to be with them till his return. And now they 
have only to do their duty, and leave the conse- 
quences with their Master. They see things in an 
entirely different light, their despondency is all gone ; 
they go again to their work with more resolution and 
earnestness than ever. 

Such was the spirit of primitive Christianity ; this 
is the spirit that should animate us in all our well- 
directed efforts for the salvation of the soul." 

Let those who engage in teaching and raising up 
Sabbath Schools, meet opposition, and discourage- 
ments in this way, and the cause of Jesus Christ can 
never suffer from the efforts of men. 
26* 



306 THE SABBATH SCHOOL TEACHER. 

First reason,— personal benefit of teachers. 

I must now proceed, briefly to mention a few mo- 
tives which God, in his providence, holds out to the 
Sabbath School teacher to he faithful and untiring 
in the cause in which he has engaged. 

1. The teacher will himself receive benefit in pro- 
portion to his faithfulness. 

The providence of God seems to design the Sab- 
bath School to be the place where the teacher shall 
have all his Christian graces continually called out 
and exercised. The man who is faithful in his sta- 
tion as a Sabbath School teacher, can hardly fail of 
having his Christian character improved. 

Are you naturally proud ? Who is not ? You must 
here associate with ignorance, stupidity, prejudice, 
and it may he, with filth. Like your Master, you 
must associate with the poor. Your intellect must 
be exercised by coming down to the capacity of the 
child. You must visit the poor, listen to their tales 
of sorrow, sympathize with their condition, put your- 
self, in some measure, on their level, and encounter 
any prejudices, however vulgar, which they may en- 
tertain. Can this be done without calling the grace 
of humility somewhat into exercise ? 

Are you naturally selfish 1 You must go to your 
school, and visit the families, at the time appointed, 
let the weather be what it may, your own ease and 
comfort making what demands they may ; you must 
enter the dwellings of sorrow, of woe, of wretched- 
ness: you must forego seasons of visiting, social 



THE SABBATH SCHOOL TEACHER. 307 

Traits of character cultivated by teaching. 

interviews with friends, leisure for reading, thinking, 
and on the Sabbath especially, even a part of your 
hours of secret meditation and devotion in the closet. 
It is a constant call for self-denial ; and you cannot be 
happy without its exercise. 

Do you in any measure lack patience ? You will 
meet with the stupid and the dull, whom you must 
instruct ; with the stiff-necked and the stubborn, with 
whom you must bear and forbear ; with ingratitude 
which at times seems too much for poor human 
nature to bear. You will have to follow your 
scholars from week to week — sometimes discovering 
that they are wearied with your teachings, sometimes 
that they would gladly get away if they could. Can 
you do all this, and endure all this, without a 
patience constantly increasing 1 

'Are condescension, affability, meekness, gentle- 
ness, goodness, long-suffering, Christian love that 
hopeth all things, endureth all things, required? 
They are all called into daily exercise, and all, if 
asked of the Giver of all goodness, will freely be 
given, and abundantly strengthened and increased, 
by the blessed spirit of consolation, until every pre- 
cious stone in the diadem of Christian graces be set 
in its place, and burnished, and made fit, for Christ's 
sake, to be added to those which evermore shall burn 
and blaze around the throne, and brighten and 
brighten, throughout eternity, in the pure and holy 
splendors of the glory of God and of the Lamb.* 



308 THE SABBATH SCHOOL TEACHER. 

Second reason,— thanks of the scholars in after life. 

Thus, they " that he wise shall shine as the brightness 
of the firmament, and they that turn many to right- 
eousness, as the stars forever and ever." 

2. The faithful teacher will have the thanks of 
his scholars in after life. 

Few teachers are aware how long they are re- 
membered, and, if faithful, with how much affection, 
by their scholars. More than twenty years ago, a 
lady, in a destitute neighborhood, opened in her own 
house, what she called a Sabbath School. The Bible 
and the catechism were recited by quite a number 
of children who united in the school. This teacher 
was a mother, and often has been known to hear 
thirty or forty recitations with an infant in her arms. 
These self-denying labors were not overlooked by the 
Great Head of the church. Those who attended 
her school grew up altogether unlike others in the 
same neighborhood, who did not attend. The mould- 
ing of their minds and the forming of their charac- 
ters seem to have been done by her, and that too, in 
some instances, when the almost omnipotent example 
of parents was directly opposed to her influence. 
Three of her scholars were the daughters of profane 
and intemperate parents. Such was the hold which 
this devoted teacher obtained over their affections and 
confidence, that she rescued them from the ruinous 
influence of these parents, and trained them to be 
ornaments in society. They were respectably settled 
in life. 



THE SABBATH SCHOOL TEACHER. 309 

Interesting case of a solitary teacher. 

Several of her scholars who had removed to other 
places, and who had grown out of her recollection, 
have been known to return and extend the warm 
hand of greeting, and hail her as their former 
teacher and friend. 

One of her pupils who had taken up her residence 
in a new and remote section of the State, was in- 
duced, by a remembrance of the example and in- 
fluence of this teacher, to go and do likewise. She 
also collected children around her, and taught them 
the things which pertain to their eternal welfare. 

One scholar while on her death-bed sent a mes- 
senger from the town in which she was residing, to 
request this teacher to come and see her. She was 
unable to go ; but just as the young lady was going 
into eternity, leaning upon the staff of the Redeemer, 
she left a special message for her teacher : " Tell her 
that her instructions in that little Sabbath School 
were blessed to the salvation of my soul." Such was 
the influence of one teacher, and she a mother at the 
head of a family ! Such were the rewards which 
she lived to receive. All may not see the results of 
their labors so clearly. Sometimes, for wise reasons, 
the teacher will not be permitted to see the results, 
and to hear the offerings of the grateful scholar in 
this life. But the word of God shall not return to 
him void. The seed may seem to die ; but it will, in 
God's own time, spring up, and bear fruit unto eter- 
nal life. As an illustration of this, I have often been 



310 THE SABBATH SCHOOL TEACHER. 

Henry Martyn. 

affected at an incident connected with Henry Mar- 
tyn. If I mistake not, my reader will be also. 

Some years since an English gentleman spent 
several weeks at Shiraz, Persia. He attended a 
public dinner with a party of Persians, among whom 
was one who took but little part in the conversation. 
He was below middle-age, serious, and mild in counte- 
nance. His name was Mahomed Rahem. In the 
course of a religious conversation, the Englishman 
expressed himself with some levity; at which Ma- 
homed fixed his eyes upon him with such a look of 
surprise, regret, and reproof, as reached his very soul. 
Upon inquiry, the gentleman found that he had been 
educated as a Mollah, (Priest,) though he had never 
officiated ; that he was much respected, was learned, 
retired in his habits, and was drawn out to attend 
that party only by the expectation of meeting an 
Englishman — to whose nation and language he was 
much attached. In a subsequent interview, Mahomed 
Rahem declared himself a Christian, and gave the 
following account of the happy change in his views 
and feelings. 

" In the year 1223 (of the Hejira) there came to 
this city an Englishman, who taught the religion of 
Christ with a boldness hitherto unparalleled in Per- 
sia, in the midst of much scorn and ill-treatment from 
our Mollahs, as well as the rabble. He was a beard- 
less youth, and evidently enfeebled by disease. He 
dwelt among us for more than a year. I was then a 



THE SABBATH SCHOOL TEACHER. 311 

The Persian Mollah's conversion. 

decided enemy to Infidels, as the Christians are termed 
by the followers of Mahomet; and I visited this 
teacher of the despised sect, with the declared object 
of treating him with scorn, and exposing his doctrines 
to contempt. Although I persevered for some time 
in this behavior toward him, I found that every in- 
terview not only increased my respect for the indi- 
vidual, but diminished my confidence in the faith in 
which I was educated. His extreme forbearance 
towards his opponents, — the calm and yet convincing 
manner in which he exposed the fallacies and sophis- 
tries by which he was assailed, (for he spoke Persian 
excellently,) gradually inclined me to listen to his 
arguments, to enquire dispassionately into the subject 
of them, and finally to read a tract which he had 
written in reply to a defence of Islamism by our 
Chief Mollahs. Need I detain you longer? The 
result of my examination was a conviction that the 
young disputant was right. Shame, or rather fear, 
withheld me from avowing this opinion. I even 
avoided the society of the Christian teacher, though 
he remained in the city so long. Just before he quit- 
ted Shiraz, I could not refrain from paying him a 
farewell visit. Our conversation — the memory of it 
will never fade from the tablet of my mind — sealed 
my conversion. He gave me a book — it has ever 
been my constant companion — the study of it has 
formed my most delightful occupation — its contents 
have often consoled me." Upon this, he put into 



312 THE SABBATH SCHOOL TEACHER. 

Third reason,— bestow mercy upon the needy. 

his hands a copy of the New Testament in Persian. 
On one of the blank leaves was written — " There is 
joy in heaven over one sinner that repenteth. — 
Heivry Martyn." 

3. The faithful teacher will have the consciousness 
of carrying light, and hope, and mercy into many 
families where they would otherwise he excluded. 

The faithful teacher will be a blessing to all, — the 
rich as well as the poor. But the greater part of 
this world are poor ; and the Gospel is emphatically- 
designed for the poor. Every ray of light which you 
carry into the dark bosom, cheers, elevates, and 
blesses. Every family with whom you come in con- 
tact, you can aid, you can cheer, you can comfort. 
And mercy too, the richest mercy of God, can by you 
be conveyed to the heart over which none that is mere- 
ly earthly can shed her beams. Let a few teachers meet, 
who have been faithful a few years, and let them tell 
over the scenes through which they have passed, and 
your heart would not only ache over the misery 
which sin every where produces, but it would also 
rejoice at the power which the teacher has of doing 
good. I should like to mention examples, did circum- 
stances allow it ; but I may be allowed to select a 
single instance of the results of the system, out 
of scores of examples at hand, all of which are 
equally interesting. This little scene took place in 
Europe. 

" At the foot of a lofty hill, crowned to the sum- 



THE SABBATH SCHOOL TEACHER. 313 

Affecting scene in Europe. 

mit with the richest verdure, peeped out from among 
encircling bush-wood and straggling elms, a miserable 
mud cabin. A streak of smoke rolling up through 
the green trees, was the only sign that met my eye 
of its being inhabited. The sun was up, and over 
the deep blue heavens the thin cloud lay sleeping. 
It was the hour between sunrise and the full blaze 
of day. A stillness seemed to lie around the spot, 
and I felt an indescribable sensation creep over me as 
I drew near the house of mourning. I paused at the 
entrance. A low, murmuring kind of sound stole 
upon my ear, and again all was hushed. The apart- 
ment on the threshold of which I now stood was one 
of the meanest construction. It was without a single 
piece of furniture that deserved the name. In one 
corner of it a dead body lay stretched out, very 
slightly covered with a tattered coat, and a cold kind 
of horrible feeling crept through my very soul, and I 
should probably have shrunk away from any further 
investigation, if I had not been suddenly arrested by 
a soft, sweet voice, mingled with a low groan, some- 
what like a death-rattle, that seemed to issue from 
the same apartment. I turned my head around and 
beheld a sight that chained me, as if by magic, to 
the ground. It was heart-thrilling to behold it. On 
a bundle of straw, a woman somewhat in years lay 
apparently in the agonies of death. Near her head 
hung, reclining in deep sorrow, a beautiful little half- 
naked child. On one side a lovely girl, about thir 
27 



314 THE SABBATH SCHOOL TEACHER. 



Fourth reason,— the system will benefit the world 

teen years of age, knelt ; — a Bible clasped in her thin, 
slender hands, with which she was endeavoring to 
comfort her dying mother ! I instantly recognized 
them, — two of my Sabbath School children ! The 
meeting was affecting. They had been without food 
for some days. The mother died the next day in 
the triumphs of that faith which her little daughter 
taught her out of the Bible. The girls grew up to 
be respectable members of society, and one of them 
has been a teacher in a Sabbath School for a num- 
ber of years." 

4. It is an encouragement to be faithful, that you 
are engaged in a system of usefulness by which the 
ichole world is to be benefited. 

There is something disheartening to work alone, 
and to feel that you have not any one to sympathize 
in your trials and difficulties. It is not thus with the 
Sabbath School teacher. He can hardly go to any 
part of the wide world, without finding fellow-laborers. 
And the system, improved by the experience and the 
prayers of God's people, will yet reach every tribe 
of men under heaven, and become one of the most 
efficient means in the hands of the church by which 
to fill the earth with the salvation of the Gospel. 
How soon would the Sabbath School cause the Sab- 
bath to be sanctified and hallowed through the world ! 
How soon would it do that for slavery which nothing 
has as yet done, or is soon likely to do, in this land ! 
How soon would it redeem a community so that our 



THE SABBATH SCHOOL TEACHER. 315 

Examination of Sabbath Schools in the Society Islands. 

prisons would be almost entirely empty ! Mark the 
following testimony of the Chaplain to the great State 
Prison at Sing-Sing, (New York.) " I have lately 
made pretty thorough inquiry among the convicts 
here, for the purpose of learning who, and how many, 
have ever enjoyed the advantages of a Sabbath 
School. The result is, that out of more than jive 
hundred convicts, not one has been found who has 
ever been, for any considerable time, a regular mem- 
ber of a Sabbath School ; and not more than two or 
three, who have ever attended such a school at all." 
Most of the missionaries of the present day were 
faithful and indefatigable teachers in the Sabbath 
School at home. The consequence has been that 
they have uniformly introduced the system into the 
heathen countries where they have gone. Those 
from London early introduced it into the Society 
Islands. It is the testimony of Mr. Ellis, that the 
Sabbath School is a vital principle in their system 
of operations, and that God has so abundantly blessed 
them, that their schools are now almost wholly taught 
by those who were formerly scholars. ' Often has 
my heart rejoiced to see, early on the Sabbath morn- 
ing, the little Islanders running to school at the sound 
of the iron suspended from a cocoa-nut tree, and 
struck by a stone, which told them that the hour for 
instruction had come, — often when the second sum- 
mons from this substitute for a bell intimated that 
public worship was about to commence, have I heard 



316 THE SABBATH SCHOOL TEACHER. 

The premium. 

their voices mingling in sweet melody to the Savior's 
praise, — then arranged to attend the several places 
of worship, with their clean cheerful faces, their neat 
attire, made from the products of the islands, each 
with a little basket in one hand, and in the other 
their books, — when the service began I have observed 
them quiet in prayer, — attentive to the discourse, and 
ready on their return to school to meet the questions 
of their teachers from the sermon just heard, with 
intelligent and appropriate answers, I have been un- 
feignedly thankful to God, and delighted with the in- 
fluence of these nurseries for his church. 

Here also they hold their Sunday School Anniver- 
saries. When a deputation from the Missionary So- 
ciety were there, (Huahine,) more than 1200 adults 
and 350 children were present on such an occasion ; 
— the scholars were examined, and indications of in- 
tellect were afforded which showed, not that mind, 
but cultivation was required. They acquitted them- 
selves most creditably, and showed their acquaintance 
with the principles of the Christian religion to the 
surprise and gratification of all. Nor could their neat 
appearance escape notice. After whole chapters, 
portions of catechism, and various hymns, had been 
recited, some books as rewards were distributed, 
which added not a little to the interest of the occa- 
sion. Particularly in the instance of one scholar, a 
boy, who, for his diligence and good conduct, received 
the Gospel of St. Matthew bound in morocco. From 



THE SABBATH SCHOOL TEACHER. 317 

The poor mother's sorrow. Fifth reason,— scholars will soon be fellow-laborers. 

amidst the admiring multitude stepped forth this 
child: with beating heart and smiling face, he reached 
forth his hand to take the hook, put it into his bosom, 
and could hardly return to his seat, his little heart 
was so full of joy. It was a scene in which it was 
hard to tell whether children or parents shared the 
most pleasure; — but there was one present, — a 
mother, — in whose sad countenance was depicted the 
deepest grief, now suppressed by covering her face 
with a cloth, and wringing her hands amidst heavy 
sighing and sobbing, till overcome by the emotions of 
her soul, it burst forth in touching exclamations. 
" Oh, that God had sooner taken away our hard 
hearts ! Oh, that the light of his word had sooner 
come to these islands, — then my poor, poor child had 
not been gone, — she too might have been here to- 
day !" This woman once had a daughter, and had 
offered her as a sacrifice to the idols of the islands, 
previous to the Gospel being made known to them 
by the missionaries." 

5. You are encouraged to be faithful, because in 
a short time those whom you instruct will become 
fellow-laborers with you in the cause of Jesus Christ. 

The best teachers in our schools are those who 
were educated in the Sabbath School. They proba- 
bly remember their own modes of conceiving of truth, 
their difficulties and perplexities, besides, they have a 
kind of tact which a long acquaintance would natural- 
ly give them. We hope the time is near when we shall 
27* 



318 THE SABBATH SCHOOL TEACHER. 

Interesting narrative. 

have no teachers hut those of this description. But 
what is peculiarly encouraging, we do not have to 
wait till the child is matured sufficiently to become a 
teacher. As soon as he is converted to God, he at 
once becomes a little laborer in the vineyard. I have 
marked a multitude of instances which might be ad- 
duced to illustrate this point, — instances, in which a 
child had been the means of leading parents, friends, 
and companions, to a knowledge of the Savior. In 
looking over these cases, — all of which are well 
authenticated, — I am at a loss which to select. I can 
take but a single case, — one that was pointed out to 
me by a most esteemed friend, who, as I suppose, was 
the writer of the interesting narrative. Should my 
conjecture be right, I shall have the strongest assu- 
rance that there is nothing like exaggeration in the 
account. Perhaps every reader could recite narra- 
tives of the labors of these young disciples of Christ, 
equally interesting, and equally a reproof to those 
who have a name to live, while they are dead. 

1 Some years since a Superintendent was walking 
out at the edge of evening, in one of the pleasant 
villages of Massachusetts. By some providence he 
turned out of his accustomed walk, and was accosted 
by a child, who inquired if he were not a Sabbath 
School teacher. On being told that he was, she 
sighed, and said that she had long been wishing to go 
to the school, but that her parents forbade her. On 
being asked the reason of their objections, she wept 



THE SABBATH SCHOOL TEACHER. 319 

The cruel father. Little Jane's parents. 

profusely, said that her father was intemperate, and 
her mother so wicked, that when she asked to go to 
the Sabbath School, they would chastise her for it, 
and make her work all the Sabbath. 

" Oh ! if my parents were willing, how glad I 
should be !" 

" Will you direct me, my child, to your home 1 I 
will have some conversation with your parents re- 
specting your coming to the school." , 

" yes, and will thank you too." 

On entering this dwelling, I breathed forth a prayer 
to God that my visit to this family might be long re- 
membered by me, and by them. The child intro- 
duced me as one of the Sabbath School teachers, 
who wished to have some conversation with her 
father on the subject of his permitting her to attend 
the school. 

" You wretch !" he exclaimed to his child, " have 
I not forbid your going to such places ?" 

He then called for the rod to chastise her. I felt 
that I- was in a delicate position, and at first stood 
amazed at such unnatural cruelty. I remarked that 
I hoped he would not punish the child, particularly 
as on this occasion I had been the cause of exciting 
his anger. 

" Your little daughter is kind, Sir, and obedient, is 
she not?" 

" Yes. But who are you V 9 



320 THE SABBATH SCHOOL TEACHER. 



Jane becomes a scholar. 



" I am your friend, and wish to have a little con- 
versation with you, if you please." 

" Well, talk on." 

" I hope you will not correct your child on account 
of my calling to see you, as I was pleased on meeting 
her, with the simplicity of her conversation, and 
thought I should be pleased to see her father." 

" Sir, I will take your advice : Jane, you will at- 
tend to your evening's business." 

After conversing with this man for nearly two 
hours on the subject of Sabbath Schools, and the 
propriety of his sending Jane, he partially promised 
that she might go. " What say you, mother, to our 
Jane 's going to the Sunday School V The mother 
refused with an oath ! My heart began to despair, 
for I thought I had succeeded, and was now disap- 
pointed from a quarter which I did not expect. I 
continued my entreaties for a short time to no purpose, 
and promised that I would call again. 

On the day following I called again, and after 
three hours of painful and laborious conversation, 
gained the consent of these parents that Jane might 
come to our Sabbath School. 

The next Sabbath, with gratitude to God, I had 
the pleasure of introducing Jane into the Sabbath 
School. After supplying her with books, I placed her 
under the care of Miss D , one of the most faith- 
ful teachers in our school. Jane had not been long 
with us, before it was plain that she had serious 



THE SABBATH SCHOOL TEACHER. 321 

Her account of her own feelings. 

thoughts and feelings ; and in a few Sabbaths after, 
her countenance indicated that a change too pleasing 
and too visible to be concealed, had taken place. 

At the close of the school one Sabbath, Miss D. 
requested me to remain, that I might have some par- 
ticular conversation with Jane. We tarried after the 
school was closed, and I turned to the little girl, who 
said, — 

* Oh, Mr. , you are the kindest of friends in 

this world : you have, by bringing me into this school, 
taught me how to worship God. Before I came here 
I used to feel bad, but could not help it. Miss D. has 
told me that sin is the cause of all our bad feelings, — 
that we are all sinners in the sight of God. I have 
also learned in this school that we must pray to God 
that he would forgive us our sins. Oh, Sir, a few 
Sabbaths since I felt that there was no peace to my 
poor soul, and saw, that if I should then die, I 
must go to hell with the wicked. On leaving the 
school, I resolved to pray God that he would give me 
a heart to love and serve him ; a heart to fear and 
obey my parents ; a heart to love everybody. And, 
you cannot know what a weight my sins were to me : 
I could get no sleep on account of my sins. But I 
have longed for the last few days to see you. I have 
had such new feelings, — my load is removed, — I 
could hardly wait for the Sabbath to come, that I 
might tell you what a Savior I have found. I trust 
I have given myself entirely to God. I feel that 



322 THE SABBATH SCHOOL TEACHER. 

The father becomes sick ; — effects of the sickness 

there is something in my heart which I cannot ex- 
press. O how thankful to God I am for your care 
and attention, — for the instructions of Miss D., — for 
ever coming to the Sabbath School ; — for here I have 
found the Savior who loves me, and who hath said to 
me, Seek me early, — seek me now, and you shall find 
me ! Oh ! will you pray for me, — pray for my father, 
mother, brothers, and sisters; — I have prayed for 
them, — I will continue to pray for them.' 

This account, which I have related in her own 
language as nearly as possible, was almost too much 
for me. She was then only thirteen years of age. 
She was not only happy herself now in the enjoy- 
ment of religion, but it was her heart's desire that 
all her father's family might enjoy the same religion. 
While she did not forget to pray for them, she often 
introduced topics in conversation, to interest them in 
religion. 

From continued dissipation, the father induced a 
disease, which brought him near the gates of death. 
One morning, on Jane's visiting him, while very weak 
and low, he asked her if she thought he would get 
well? She replied, with tears, that she hoped he 
would, — ' but if it is God's will, dear father, that you 
should soon die, where will your soul be when you 
enter upon eternity V He gazed at her in silence : 
she then asked if he wished to have the good Sab- 
bath School teacher call to see him ? — he will pray 
for and with you. He then said, ' oh ! my child, will 



THE SABBATH SCHOOL TEACHER. 323 

The result. 

you pray for me ]' and do you think God would hear 
prayer for such a wicked man as I am 1 The weep- 
ing child knelt by the bed-side of her sick father, and 
breathed out her soul to God in prayer, that he would 
pardon her dear father's sins, and prepare him for 
the events of the future. The unkind father was 
melted into contrition, on hearing such importunity to 
God, to bestow blessings from the throne of his grace 
upon such a sinner as he had been. The old man 
now prayed, — felt the efficacy of prayer, — felt that 
he was a sinner against God, — yes, the aged sinner 
prayed; and his prayer, we believe, was heard. 
Under God, Jane was the instrument of her father's 
conversion. God in mercy restored him to health, a 
new man, — an humble Christian. On his recovery, 
he was soon seen in the Sabbath School which he 
had so long opposed, where he then confessed, before 
teachers and scholars, how much he then felt on ac- 
count of his past conduct to the school. He asked 
the forgiveness of all. 

He is now an active teacher, in the fifty-eighth 
year of his age, in the Sabbath School. The mother 
soon became serious, her brothers and one sister were 
also anxious for the salvation of their souls, and to 
make their peace with God. In a few months from 
the time that Jane entered our school, she came for- 
ward with her father, mother, four brothers, and a 
sister, who all joined the church of God ! Thus she 
was instrumental, in one short summer, in the con- 



?24 THE SABBATH SCHOOL TEACHER. 

Suggestions by the narrative. Sixth reason,— prepares pupils for blessedness. 

version of seven immortal souls, and all of her own 
family. Where formerly oaths were daily heard, now 
morning and evening prayer is offered, and the bless- 
ing of God supplicated to rest upon Sabbath Schools, 
to which, through the goodness of God, eight undying 
souls ascribe their conversion.' 

I cannot leave this beautiful narrative without re- 
minding teachers of two suggestions which arise on 
reading it. One is, that teachers should not value a 
little time when necessary to meet prejudice, combat 
error, or persuade obstinacy. A few hours of faithful 
labor may save a whole family. The other sugges- 
tion is, that when we have once led those who are 
opposed, to become friends, they are among our 
warmest friends, and labor with a zeal and an ear- 
nestness corresponding to their previous prejudices 
and opposition. 

6. The faithful teacher will be the means of pre- 
paring many for an immortality of blessedness. 

A beloved member of my church once came to me 
with a discouraged heart. She had, I believe, 
twelve young ladies in her class; she had taught 
them, she had prayed for them, and had apparently 
done all for them that she could. Not one was 
savingly converted, not one was anxious, or even se- 
rious ; what could she do more ? I recollect saying 
what little I could to encourage her, — which was not 
much, for I have too often had the same feelings in 
regard to my ministry, not to be aware that no hu- 



THE SABBATH SCHOOL TEACHER. 325 

Illustration. 

man sympathy can reach the case. But she continued 
faithfully to instruct them. In a little while God 
poured out his Spirit upon us, and that teacher has 
since sat down at the table of Christ, with every one 
of that class, — celebrating the love that redeemed 
them. Who would not prefer the rewards which a 
faithful teacher will at last receive from the great 
Redeemer, to all the honors which this world can 
bestow l To lead one soul to the Lamb of God, — to 
be the benefactor of one immortal mind, will cause 
you to shine as the sun in the firmament forever and 
ever. But the faithful teacher will do more than 
this ; he will lead several to the waters of life, and 
to the river of God. 

There are no situations in which the teacher may 
not, and should not labor faithfully, devotedly, and 
prayerfully ; for there are none in which his labors 
will not do good. I introduce the following narrative 
to illustrate the point, that a single teacher, under 
the most unfavorable circumstances, may be a worker 
together with God. I trust, too, that the reader will 
think as I do on this point, after having read it. # 

* Perhaps this narrative may have met the eye of the reader 
before. It has frequently been published as the production of 
a pen in England. I have three several copies now before me, 
each ascribing it to different English periodicals, in each of 
which, it was inserted as original. The author begs leave to 
say, that the facts were communicated to him some years 
28 



325 THE SABBATH SCHOOL TEACHER. 

The twins, — a narrative. 

A few years since, a man and his wife arrived in 

the town of M , N. Y., as permanent residents. 

They were young, lately married, and their prospects 
for the future were bright and cheering. They pur- 
chased a farm in M , which was then a new 

country, — and nad happily spent two or three years 
in this situation, when, by a mysterious providence, 
the young man was called from this world. — With 
his surviving widow, he left two lovely twin infants, 
to deplore a loss which time could not retrieve. The 
widow sought comfort in vain from the limited circle 
of her acquaintance. There was no minister of the 
Gospel in that region to direct her to the great source 
of comfort, nor was there a pious friend who could 
direct her trembling footsteps to the cross of Jesus. 
But she went to her Bible, and by the assistance of 
the Spirit of truth, found that consolation which a 
selfish world can neither bestow nor taste. She 
mourned indeed a husband who was no more, but she 
was cheered by the hope that God would protect her 
and hers. She wept over her innocent babes, and 
resolved that while she lived, they should never need 
a mother's care. As they grew up, she endeavored 
to teach them the first principles of religion, but they 
received only her instructions. One week after an- 
other rolled away, — one Sabbath aftei another 

since, while on a journey in the State of New York, and that 
it first came from his pen. 



THE SABBATH SCHOOL TEACHER. 327 

Narrative continued. 

dawned upon the wilderness, but they brought none 
of its privilege. The wilderness had never echoed 
with the sound of the church-going bell. The soli- 
tary places had never been gladdened by the sound 
of the footsteps of him who proclaims glad tidings of 
great joy. The feeling mother clasped her little 
boys to her aching bosom, and sighed and wept for 
the opportunity of taking them by the hand, and 
leading them up to the courts of God. In the days 
of her childhood she had possessed great advantages, 
and she now mourned that her babes could only re- 
ceive instruction from her lips. Alas ! no man of God 
came to instruct, — to cheer, — to gladden the bosom 
of her, who, for years, had never heard the whispers 
of love from the servants of her Savior. When the 
little boys were five years old, and before they were 
old enough to be sensible of their loss, a consumption 
had fastened upon their tender parent, and she was 
soon encircled in the cold arms of death. She 
steadily watched the certain issue of her disease, and 
even in her last moments, commended her children 
to Him who is " a Father to the fatherless." A few 
moments before she expired, she kissed her little boys, 
who wept, almost without knowing why, on feeling 
the last grasp of the clay-cold hand of their mother. 
" It is hard," said she to a neighbor who was present, 
"it is hard for a mother to leave two such helpless 
babes without friends, and without any one to pro- 
tect them ; but I leave them in the hands of God, 



328 THE SABBATH SCHOOL TEACHER. 

Narrative continued. 

and I do believe he will protect them. My last 
prayer shall be for my poor, destitute orphans." 

After the death of their mother they were received 
into the house of a neighbor, — a poor widow. In less 
than a year, one of them was stretched beside his 
mother beneath the sods. 

About this time a pious young lady arrived in the 
place. She too was an orphan, but was not comfort- 
less. It was her first inquiry how she could do good 
to the spiritually destitute villagers around her. 

In the course of one of her afternoon walks, she 
met a little boy straggling by the side of the road. 
There was a something in his countenance which 
excited interest at once, though he was exceedingly 
ragged. The young lady was struck with his appear- 
ance, and immediately entered into conversation with 
him. 

"What is your name, my little boy?" said she, 
gently. 

" James." 

" Where do you live ?" 

"With widow Parker, just in the edge of the 
wood, there, in that little log-house; can't you see it?" 

" I see it ; but is widow Parker your mother V 

" No : I had a mother last year, and she loved me. 
She used to take care of me and of my brother John. 
She made our clothes, and taught us to say our 
prayers and catechisms. Oh ! she was a most good 
mother." 



THE SABBATH SCHOOL TEACHER. 329 

Narrative continued. 

" But where is your mother V said the lady, as 
soothingly as possible. 

" Oh, madam, she is dead ! Do you see that grave- 
yard yonder ?" 

" Yes"— 

" And the great maple-tree which stands in the 
further corner of it 1" 

" Yes, I see it." 

" Well, my poor mother was buried under that 
tree, and my brother John lies there too. They were 
both buried deep in the ground, though my mother's 
grave was the deepest. I shall never see them again, 
never, never, as long as I live. Will you go with me 
and see the graves'?" continued he, looking at the 
lady with great earnestness and simplicity. 

The short account which the little boy gave of 
himself awakened the best feelings of the young lady, 
and she had been devising some plan by which to do 
him good. For the present, she declined visiting the 
grave, but continued to converse with him, and to 
gain his confidence. She found him very ignorant, 
having never been at school, and the instructions of 
his pious mother, not having her to repeat and enforce 
them by precept and example, were nearly forgotten. 

A Sabbath School had never been established in 
the place, and whether it was practicable to establish 
one, was doubtful, — but she was determined to make 
the experiment. Accordingly, she visited every little 
cottage in the village, and urged that the children 
28* 



330 THE SABBATH SCHOOL TEACHER. 



Narrative continued. 



might be assembled on the next Lord's day, and a 
school formed. A proposal of this kind was new, was 
from a new-comer, and was unpopular. All the old 
women in the place entered their protest against 
such innovations. For the first three Sabbaths, the 
young lady had no other scholar besides her little 
James. But she had already been taught, that how- 
ever faint our prospects of doing good at first may 
be, we should not be discouraged. Our labor may 
not be lost, though the first blow may not produce 
much effect. She was sorry that she had so few 
scholars, but she bent all her energies to the instruc- 
tion of her little boy, and afterwards felt that Provi- 
dence had ordered it wisely. 

But in a few weeks the prejudices of the people 
began to wear away, and before the summer closed, 
this school embraced every child whose age would 
allow it to attend. 

It was the second summer after the establishment 
of this school, and after little James had become well 
acquainted with his Testament and catechism, that 
his health also began to fail. This good young lady 
beheld his gradual decay with anxiety, visited him 
frequently, and always wept after having left him. 
She used often to walk out with him, and to endeavor 
to cheer him by her conversation. 

One pleasant afternoon she led him out by the 
hand, and at his request visited the spot where lay 
his mother and little brother. Their graves were 



THE SABBATH SCHOOL TEACHER. 331 



Narrative continued. 



both covered with grass, and on the smaller grave 
were some beautiful flowerets. It was in the cool of 
a serene summer's day, as they sat by the graves in 
silence ; neither of them feeling like speaking. The 
lady gazed at the pale countenance of the little boy, 
upon whose system a lingering disease was preying, 
while he looked at her with an eye that seemed to 
say, ' I have not long to enjoy your society.' Without 
saying a word, he cut a small stick, and measured the 
exact length of his little brother's grave, and again 
seated himself by the lady. She appeared sad while 
he calmly addressed her. 

" You see, Miss S , that this little grave is 

shorter than mine will be." 

She pressed his little, bony hand within her own, 
and he continued — 

" You know not how much I love you, — how much 
I thank you. Before you taught me, I knew nothing 
of death, — nothing about heaven, or God, or angels, — 
I was a very wicked boy till you met me. I love 
you much, very much, but I would say — something 
else"— 

" And what would you say, James V 9 inquired the 
lady, trying to compose her own feelings. 

" Do you think I shall ever get well V 9 

" Indeed I hope you will ; but why ask that ques- 
tion V 

" Because I feel I shall not live long, — I believe I 
shall soon die, — I shall then be laid beside my poor 



332 THE SABBATH SCHOOL TEACHER. 

Narrative continued. 

mother, — and she will then have her two little boys, 
— one on each side of her. But do not cry, Miss S., 
I am not afraid to die. You told me, and the Testa- 
ment tells me, that Christ will suffer little children to 
come unto him, and though I know I am a very sin- 
ful little boy, yet I think I shall be happy, for I love 
this Savior who can save such a wicked boy as I am. 
And I sometimes think I shall soon meet mother and 
little brother in happiness. I know you will come 
too, won't you ? When I am dead I wish you to tell 
the Sabbath scholars how much I loved them all, — 
tell them they must all die, and may die soon, and 
tell them to come and measure the grave of little 
James ; and then prepare to die." 

The young lady wept, and could not answer him 
at that time. But she was enabled to converse with 
him many times afterwards on the grounds of his 
hope, and was satisfied that this little lamb was in- 
deed of the fold of Jesus. She was sitting at his 
bed-side, and with her own trembling hand, closed 
his lovely eyes as they shut in the slumbers of death. 
He fell asleep with a smile, — without a struggle. 
The lady was the only sincere mourner who followed 
the remains of the child to the grave, and while she 
shed many tears over that grave, which concealed 
his lovely form, she could not but rejoice in the be- 
lief that God had permitted her to be the feeble in- 
strument of preparing an immortal spirit for a man- 



THE SABBATH SCHOOL TEACHER. 333 

Seventh reason,— will add to the eternal happiness of the teacher. 

sion in the skies, where the wicked cease from 
troubling, and where the weary are at rest. 

7. Once more, — the teacher is urged to faithfulness, 
because it will add to his own eternal blessedness. 

The death-beds of many of the most active and 
devoted servants of Jesus Christ within a few years 
have proved to us, that the spirit and the consolations 
of the Apostolic times have come down to us. The 
days of martyrdom, for the present, have gone by; but 
the labors of martyrs, and the dying triumphs of 
martyrs are still left. A host of bright stars have 
set upon this land within a few years, — and they 
went down growing brighter as they set. The light 
of eternity came through the gloom of the grave, and 
threw glories even into the dominions of death. The 
song of angels was heard even here, and the tongue 
began to unite in these songs before it became silent. 
These men have gone to their rest. In their lives 
and deaths, God has seemed to say that he will 
honor those who honor him. But the work of con- 
verting the world to God, is yet to be done. One 
agent and another is raised up, and then removed, 
and yet the plans of the Infinite One still move 
onward. They will go on, let men be faithful or 
otherwise. 

Teacher ! your day will soon be over. The night 
cometh, in which no man can work. You will soon 
be called away to pass beyond the shores of time ; 
that which will then press your conscience will be, — 



334 THE SABBATH SCHOOL TEACHER. 

Future meetings with scholars. 

not how much of this world you have gotten in any 
shape, — but how much have you been a co-worker 
with God ! If faithful in your sphere, however hum- 
ble, you will be acknowledged as a co-worker. You 
will go into eternity conscious that you have served 
Jesus Christ, and that you have been laboring to 
bring souls to his cross. He will welcome you, he 
will crown you, he will own you as his dear friend 
in the day when he shall come in the glory of the 
Father. 

On the hill of Zion above, you will, too, see a glo- 
rious sight. That bright one who shall accompany 
your wearied spirit even from the bed of death, who 
shall lead you up to the regions of everlasting blessed- 
ness, may be the redeemed spirit of that dear scholar 
whom you taught in the school, whose soul you led to 
Jesus, and whose body you followed to the grave. 
You had almost forgotten his name,— but you had 
not been forgotten ; and he was the sweet messenger 
sent down to guide your soul from earth to heaven. 
As you see that glorious spirit, as you hear his song 
of redeeming love, will you ever regret your labors, 
prayers, tears ? And when your feet have become 
familiar with the golden streets of the New Jerusalem, 
you may hereafter hail one and another whom you 
instructed in the Sabbath School, but whom you left 
on the earth completing their day of probation. 
They will come, and with you, forever become 
learners in that glorious school of Christ above. 



THE SABBATH SCHOOL TEACHER. 335 

The author's motives in writing. 

There will be gathered, converts, a great mul- 
titude, ministers who have been most faithful and 
laborious and successful, and churches who have 
been lights in the world, all of which may be traced 
back to the little class which you once taught ; and to 
ages untold, you will see the results of your labors 
here on earth. 

Reader ! before rising from my chair, I expect to 
write the last paragraph of this book, — a book which 
has cost me much labor, many fears, and much deep 
anxiety. A book may be written for reputation, 
for pecuniary profit, or to gratify earthly feelings. I 
do believe I have not been led to write from either 
of these motives. If motives as pure as our sinful 
hearts will permit us to feel, could secure me from 
having said what would make bad impressions, or 
lead to any other than good results, I should lay 
down my pen with more satisfaction than I now do. 
If in any remarks I have exhibited any other than 
the kindest feelings, I beg my reader to believe that 
it was wholly unintentional. I have not felt any 
other. In very many cases the reader will doubtless 
dissent from what I say. Let him do so, feeling that 
his experience may have been different from my own, 
or that I have been laying down general rules, while 
his was an exception. I have been on ground new, 
and to a great degree, unexplored ; and if the reader 
feels that he discovers great deficiencies, or great de- 



336 THE SABBATH SCHOOL TEACHER. 

Conclusion. 

fects, he will remember that I have had great diffi- 
culties to encounter. 

Many unknown friends will read these pages, 
upon whom this will be the first and the last im- 
pression which I can ever make. May I not hope 
that they will at least gather one hint, and one im- 
pression from this little volume which will quicken 
them in duty, make them more devoted to their 
work, more laborious and more faithful in their Mas- 
ter's service ? 

The writer and the reader are both passing to the 
grave. The providence of God which has brought 
their minds into contact by means of these pages, 
lays them both under new and heavier responsibilities 
to be devoted to the salvation of men. Those of the 
reader cannot be small : those of the writer immeasur- 
ably great. May we sow beside all waters ; in the 
morning scattering the seed upon the earth fresh with 
the dews of heaven, in the evening withholding not 
the hand, — for we know not whether the one or the 
other shall prosper. And when the toils and anxieties 
of this life shall be over, may we rejoice together 
with the ten thousand times ten thousand, who with- 
out ceasing day or night, praise God and the Lamb 
forever and ever ! 



THE END. 



*r 











.V 






%1 




1 O 


^ 








>* 






^ 




^ 




« \ ' 




o.v-' <£* * x -0 Of, ^^ <> <xv r ^V /- 

\V v . v. 'in' ^O s » ,. , ^ * o H o y> -^ * 








Deacidified using the Bookkeeper process. 
Neutralizing agent: Magnesium Oxide 



<*% /■ 



^5 %^ ^\ Treatment Date: Sept. 2005 



PreservationTechnologies 

A WORLD LEADER IN PAPER PRESERVATION 

1 1 1 Thomson Park Drive 
Cranberry Township, PA 16066 
(724)779-2111 






S" 



CONGRESS 




